The Gazette 1976

GAZETTE

MAY 197b

EUROPEAN SECTION

"lawyer" means avocat, solicitor or barrister; "Paris" means the area falling within the jurisdiction of the Ordre; "barrister" means a member of the Bar of England and Wales; "practising certificate" means the certificate issued by The Law Society which entitles a solicitor to practise Having regard to the Treaty of Rome and to the decisions of the European Court in / . Reyners v. L'Etat Beige (hereinafter referred to as "Reyners") and J. H. M. Van Binsbergen v. Bestuur Van De Bedrijfs- vereniging Voor De Metaalnijverheid (hereinafter re- ferred to as "Binsbergen'), and to the proposed direc- tive on the Provision of Services by lawyers (XI I / 4 5 4/ 75-E) and noting the laws of France and of England respectively and the professional rules which apply respectively to avocats and solicitors, it is acknowledged by the Ordre and The Law Society t h a t: (1) The functions which an avocat of the Paris Bar in his practice, and a solicitor in his, may perform, and the activities which they may respectively undertake outside their practices, are not coextensive and that avocats and solicitors are members not of the same pro- fession but of parallel professions. (2) If it be true that a right of "establishment" in terms of the Treaty is already in effect in the sense of the decision in Reyners so as to permit an avocat to Carry on the activities of an avocat, other than activi- ties reserved to the English legal profession, in an office in England and to permit a solicitor to carry on the activities of a solicitor, other than activities reserved to the French legal professions, in an office in Paris, nevertheless a right of "establishment" in the sense of (1) the right of an avocat to exercise the activities reserved to the English legal profession or (2) that of a solicitor to exercise the activities reserved to the French legal professions must await inter alia a bilateral agreement upon rules of coordination and recognition of diplomas. To avoid confusion, i)n this Convention the word "installation" is used in lieu of the word "establishment" to describe the first of these rights. (3) The law which reformed certain legal and judi- cial professions in France defined the basis for the exer- cise of the professions of avocat and of conseiJ juridique and laid down the conditions on which a foreign lawver may instal himself and may carry on his activities in France. (4) A solicitor may instal himself in France and may carry on the activities of a solicitor whether alone or in partnership with other lawyers, and whether practis- ing in his own name or in the name of his firm, subject only to compliance with French law. (5) Certain solicitors have the right to register as Conseils Juridiques and those who have exercised this right are subject to the provisions of French law applic- able to that profession. (6) An avocat may instal himself and carry on the activities of an avocat in England (1) either alone or in such association with other avocats or other persons as the Ordre may permit and (2) either practising in his own name or in the name of a firm subject only to compliance with English law. (7) French law does not prohibit arrangements by which in France : (a) an avocat shares premises and services and the consequent expenses with a solicitor; (b) an avocat enters into partnership with a solicitor; (c) an avocat acts as " c o l l a bo r a t e s" of a solicitor or 75 as a solicitor. ART I CLE 2

The Paris Convention between the Paris Bar

and the English Law Society

L'Ordre des Avocats á la Cour de Paris, represented by Me Francis Mollet-Vieville, Batonnier of the Ordre, and The Law Society of England and Wales, repre- sented by Mr. Edmund Naylor Liggins, its President, in the presence of the Commission Consultative des Barreaux de la Communauté Européenne, represented by the Batonnier Albert Brunois, its President. Recognising : (a) The desirability of regulating the activities of lawyers who practise abroad. (b) The need for lawyers to participate actively in European development and, in the interests of their clients and third parties concerned, to improve the conditions of work on an economic and social plane by international co-operation between the legal professions. Have adopted this Convention. ART I CLE 1 In this Convention : "avocat" means an avocat inscribed at the Paris Bar; "avocat stagiaire" means an avocat stagiaire inscribed at the Paris Bar; "activities reserved to the French legal professions" means those activities which are reserved by French law to members of one or other of the legal or judicial professions defined and regulated by such law; "activities of an avocat" means all activities which an avocat is not prohibited by French law or the profes- sional rules of the Paris Bar from carrying on within or outside an avocat's professional practice; "solicitor" means a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales; "activities reserved to the English legal profession" means those activities which are reserved by English law to members of either of the branches of the legal profession or to the judiciary as defined and regulated by such law; "activities of a solicitor" means all activities which a solicitor is not prohibited by English law or the rules of professional conduct of The Law Society from carry- ing on within or outside a solicitor's professional prac- tice; "establish" and "establishment" relate to the right to carry on in France all the activities of an avocat or, as the case may be, to carry on in England and Wales all the activities of a solicitor; "instal" and "installation" relate to the carrying on by an avocat of the activities of an avocat in an office in England and Wales or by a solicitor of the activities of a solicitor in an office i/n Paris but without the right to carry on the activities reserved to a solicitor in the former case or to an avocat in the latter; "International Code of Ethics" means the ethical code adopted on 25 July, 1956 by the International Bar Association (as amended) Unless otherwise required by the context "solicitor" includes "solicitors" and where the solicitor is a mem- ber of a partnership those of its partners who are solicitors and likewise "avocat" includes "avocats" and where an avocat is a member of an "association" or "société civile professionnelle" also includes all the avocats who are his partners;