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can no longer avail of limited liability and sleeping
partners are penalised by being obliged to charge
V.A.T. on their fees. Limited company partnerships
which existed at the date of passing of the law of 1971
are permitted exceptionally to enrol on the list of
Conseils Juridiques subject to certain conditions
relating to control of capital and transfer of shares.
The extraordinary anomaly of the right to advertise
has now been radically curtailed. The Conseil Juridique
may only mention his particular legal qualifications in
addition to any field in which he claims to be a
specialist. The latter right is in turn limited to one
of three defined specialities namely fiscal law, com-
pany law and social welfare law. Moreover, an appli-
cation must be made for authorisation to mention
a particular specialist field and the applicant must
prove that he is properly qualified to practise in that
field. In all other respects, the right to advertise has
now been effectively abolished.
The other reforms affecting Conseils Juridiques are
broadly aimed at establishing rules of conduct and
standards of practice designed to bring the profession
into line with that of the Avocats. Professional negli-
gence insurance as well as insurance against loss or
misappropriation of client's fund& is compulsory.
Regulations prescribing accounting methods require
that clients' monies be deposited in a separate bank
account. It is provided incidentally that Conseils
Juridiques have withdrawn from practice as a result
of the reform. The part timers in particular have given
up, as have those whose qualifications were insufficient
to enable them be admitted to the roll. Public con-
fidence in the profession has to some extent improved
though it is too early to ascertain the extent to which
the regulations affecting Conseils Juridiques will be
imposed.
Foreign Lawyers
There has always been a relatively high number of
foreign lawyers practising in France. Their presence
was originally required to meet the needs of the large
foreign population in France. More recently, they have
become active in the commercial field as a result of
the post war development of the French economy in
the context of world trade. Indeed the numbers of
foreign lawyers in France, the nature of their practice
and the type of clientele for which they cater have
been more or less constantly determined by the varied
international circumstances affecting French life both
at the economic and social level over the last century
and a half. These changes are reflected in the history
of some of the older firms whose practices were set up
in the last century to act as family lawyers for wealthy
clients having secondary or principal residences in
France. These firms were called upon to deal with
most matters of legal consequence in the lives of their
foreign clients — marriage, divorce, property, acquisi-
tion, succession, tax, etc.
However, as already mentioned, over the last two
decades, a very sharp increase in the intake of com-
mercial clients and the handling of commercial matters
generally has been experienced by most foreign prac-
titioners in France, particularly American and
European law firms.
In
general
the
foreign
firms
are
to
be
found only where they are needed in France.
The vast majority are located in Paris while the re-
maining handful are scattered around the Southern
Mediterranean where there is a large foreign popula-
tion in retirement or temporary residence. There are
practically no foreign lawyers elsewhere in France
although it is possible that over the next decade this
situation will change as the larger French cities
develop. Indeed the efforts of the French government
to decentralise industry from the Paris region in favour
of the larger cities are being increasingly applied to
foreign companies setting up in France.
It
is
therefore
evident
that
the
foreign
lawyer is there to serve a particular clientele whose
needs cannot normally be met by the members of
the French legal profession themselves. This however
is an over simplification and is reflected in the
various misleading titles applied to foreign lawyers
in France — "Juristes Etrangers" (Foreign Legal
Adviser), "Avocat Etranger" (Foreign lawyer) and
"Avocat International" (International lawyer). In
fact, the most appropriate description appears to be
"Avocat inscrit á un Barreau Etranger" — a lawyer
attached to a foreign Bar. This in fact is the term
now officially acknowledged as the correct descrip-
tion of foreign practitioners in France. It is a minor
result of the 1972 reforms during which the French
Ministry of Justice consulted quite regularly with
the foreign practitioners in France. Incidentally,
there is a tradition in French legal practice whereby
a foreign lawyer may plead his national law before
a French Court provided he obtains the consent of
the President of the Court and that he is assisted
by a French Avocat. This, to some extent, justifies
the description of "International Lawyer".
The foreign lawyer is basically required to advise
on his own national law, to assist clients in the
administration of French law and to resolve problems
resulting from the conflict of French law with that
of his national law.
The major portion of the average foreign firm's
clientele is non-French, the source of which is gener-
ally the country having closest connection with the
particular firm. For example, a British client will
invariably tend to consult one of the British law
firms in France. The same is true for the Americans.
English speaking clients of other nationalities notably
Orientals,
Scandinavians, Dutch,
Germans
and
citizens of the Commonwealth countries divide their
loyalties among the English speaking firms in fairly
haphazard ways, determined by introductions from
abroad, reputation, convenience, whim, or whatever.
It is significant that the vast majority of the
foreign firms and even the few individual prac-
titioners in France tend to be connected in some
way to firms in their own countries. Many are simply
French branches of very large firms from abroad,
some of which possess branch offices in various other
countries as well as France. These connections in-
variably account for a large proportion of a French
office's clientele.
As the clientele is invariably non-French, it follows
that foreign practitioners are heavily involved in
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