To practice the profession of lawyer in France, you must have one of the following nationalities :

• French nationality
• Nationality of a Member State of the European Union (EU) or party to the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) or the Swiss Confederation

To practice the profession of lawyer in France, you have to fill out conditions of morality.

You should not be in any of the following situations:

• have been the perpetrator of acts contrary to honor, probity or good morals, which have given rise to a criminal conviction or to disciplinary or administrative sanctions for removal from office, cancelation, revocation, withdrawal of authorization or authorization
• have been the subject of an investigation personal bankruptcybankruptcy, or a prohibition on the judicial reorganization and winding-up of companies

The conditions of access depend on the nationality of the person concerned:

The title of lawyer is reserved for members registered on the board of a French bar.

Lawyers take oath. The oath is taken before the Court of Appeal of the place where they are installed. Every entry on the roll of the order of a French bar association, regardless of the traditional or derogatory access to practice under the title of lawyer, gives rise to a swearing-in. The organization of the swearing-in process varies from bar to bar.

The application for registration with the Bar, accompanied by all relevant supporting documents, is addressed to the President of the Bar.

The documents to be provided vary according to the law societies and the route of admission to the profession of lawyer.

The dossier shall include at least:

• Copy of Bulletin No. 3 of the Criminal Record
• Copy of diploma or equivalent supporting documents
• Copy of the CAPA or equivalent supporting documents
• Proof of the method of exercise
• Proof of place of business
• Valid ID ID

The Council of the Order shall decide on the application for registration within two months of receipt of the application.

Any decision of the council of the order is notified within fifteen days of its date to the Attorney General, who can challenge it before the Court of Appeal.

The decision refusing registration shall also be notified to the person concerned within 15 days of its date. No refusal of registration or re-registration may be made by the council of the order without the person concerned having been heard or called within a period of at least 8 days.

If no decision is notified within one month of the expiry of the time limit for the Council of the Order to give a decision, the person concerned may consider his application to have been rejected and may appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Submit a complaint to Solvit

The installation location is free. In 2023, the total number of lawyers was 76,274.

Lawyers are in the practice of their departments and may plead, that is to say, to set out orally the claims made in their conclusions, without territorial limitation before all courts and judicial or disciplinary bodies.

They can apply for, that is to say, to carry out procedural acts, before all courts of law of the Court of Appeal in which they have established their professional residence and before the said Court of Appeal.

The lawyer must pursue his professional activity under material conditions in accordance with custom and in compliance with the essential principles of the profession. They must also provide a valid e-mail address.

Installation can be performed either:

• by means of a domicile with a law firm after approval by the Council of the Order. The lawyer domiciled must communicate to the Council of the Order the address of his private domicile.
• through sub-leasing with a law firm
• in a business center
• in a premises which the lawyer has at his disposal through a professional, mixed or commercial lease
• in the premises owned by the lawyer.

In addition to his main practice, a lawyer may open a sub-office in the same jurisdiction, in another jurisdiction, or abroad under certain conditions.

The lawyer may practice in one or more forms of practice:

• Sole trader (SE)
• Liberal collaboration
• Employee of a lawyer, a lawyer's association or a business of lawyers
• within an association: Association of lawyers with individual professional responsibility (AARPI)
• within a civil business of medium (SCM) or a civil professional business (SCP)
• within a liberal practice business (SEL) which allows members of the liberal professions to carry out their activity in the form of capital businesses. SELs can take one of the following forms:
  
  • business of Liberal Limited Liability (SELARL), or business of Liberal Single Liability (SELARLU)
  • Anonymous Liberal business (SELAFA)
  • Simplified liberal share business (SELAS) or Single simplified liberal share business (SELASU)
• in a business governed by ordinary law: limited liability company (SARL) or Simplified share business (SAS)
• as a member of a economic interest grouping (EIG) or a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG)
• within a Multi-professional business of practice (SPE) : this structure enables two or more of the following professionals to be brought together: lawyer, lawyer in the Council of State and the Court of Cassation, commissioner of justice, notary, court administrator, judicial agent, industrial property consultant, auditor, public accountant and from 1^er september 2024, surveyor-expert.

Vademecum Group Exercise

Bar of Paris

Pour en savoir plus

FYI  

The profession of lawyer is practiced under the principle of plurality of practice.

The lawyer may hold several professional exercises, in his registration bar and/or in another bar. For example, it is possible to combine partner status in several structures, to combine the individual exercise with partner status, to combine an activity as an employed person with a liberal activity.

Plurality of practice of the profession of lawyer

National Bar Council (CNB)

Pour en savoir plus

Registration must be done online on the company Formalities Window website:

Company Formalities Window

This declaration is used to inform all the bodies concerned by the launch of your activity (Insee, social organizations, Urssaf, public finance center, etc.).

Insee shall assign a number Siret. This is a unique national identification number that identifies the establishment. It is composed of Siren (first 9 digits) which identifies the company and the Nic (last 5 digits) which is modified in particular when the address of the establishment is changed.

When registering the company, Insee also attributes its EPA code. For the activity of a lawyer, the APE code is 69.10Z

A lawyer must provide insurance, either through his or her law society, collectively or personally, or both by the law society and by himself or herself ensuring the professional civil liability of each lawyer who is a member of the Bar, due to negligence and misconduct in the performance of their duties (professional indemnity insurance).

In addition, he must have insurance taken out by the Bar, or a guarantee for the repayment of fundseffects or values received in the exercise of his profession on behalf of his clients. The lawyer has an obligation to maintain a level of guarantee equivalent to the total amount of funds entrusted to him.

If the lawyer is also acting as a trustee, a member of the supervisory board of a commercial business or a business administrator, or is assigned duties by the courts, he must take out a special insurance policy, individually or collectively, for these activities.

To be affiliated, a lawyer must be sworn in and enrolled in a Bar.

The CNBF: titleContent is an autonomous social security body. Every lawyer is obligatory member at the CNBF, as soon as he enters the Bar, which he exercises as a self-employed person or as an employee. Affiliation is carried out directly by the bars.

Self-employed lawyers are covered by social insurance for invalidity, death and old age.

The employed lawyer is covered by the CNBF for the risk of old age, his social protection for invalidity and sickness being covered by the general scheme for employees.

The amount of contributions is first calculated on the basis of net income for the penultimate year and then, when known, on the basis of your net income for the preceding year to be, the following year, definitively calculated on the basis of income for the year in which the liability arises.

The Carpa (Autonomous Fund for Lawyers' Financial Regulations) is responsible for two tasks:

• Manipulation of funds by clients of lawyers as an accessory to a legal or judicial operation
• Administration and management of public funds for legal aid

A Carpa account is opened in the books of the bar association in which the lawyer is registered. The opening of this account must be requested at the same time as the registration to the Bar.

This is the electronic identity card guaranteeing the confidentiality and security of exchanges over the Internet when the lawyer completes all administrative and judicial procedures.

The procedure for obtaining a lawyer varies according to the bar association to which the lawyer is registered:

The lawyer shall perform his or her duties with dignity, conscience, independence, probity and humanity, in accordance with the terms of his or her oath.

It shall respect the principles of honor, loyalty, equality and non-discrimination, selflessness, confraternity, delicacy, moderation and courtesy.

He demonstrates competence, dedication, diligence and prudence with respect to his clients.

The solicitor-client privilege is public, absolute, general and unlimited in time.

Code of Conduct for Lawyers

Legifrance

Pour en savoir plus

Any contravention of laws and regulations, any breach of professional rules, any breach of probity, honor or delicacy, even in relation to extra-professional acts, exposes the perpetrator's lawyer to disciplinary sanctions such as warning, reprimand, temporary prohibition of practice, removal from the roster of lawyers.

Within the jurisdiction of each Court of Appeal, a Disciplinary Board is responsible for offenses and misconduct committed by the lawyers of the bars established there. In Paris, the council of the order sits as the Disciplinary Council.

Disciplinary proceedings of lawyers

National Bar Council (CNB)

Pour en savoir plus

There are activities which are compatible with the practice of the profession of lawyer. Other activities are strictly incompatible.

Compatibilities

The legal profession is compatible with:

• teaching duties
• the duties of a member of parliament or an assistant to a senator
• the functions of an assessor member of the courts for children or of the joint courts for rural leases, of a labor counselor, of a member of the social center of the court, with the judicial functions limited to those provided for by the code of judicial organization
• the functions of arbitrator, mediator or receiver.

In addition, the lawyer may engage in other activities such as escrow between a taxpayer and the tax administration, trustee, athletic agent, artist or author representative, interest representative (lobbyist), or agent of an insurance intermediary, arbitrator, expert, mediator, receiver, liquidator.

Incompatibilities

The legal profession is incompatible :

• with all commercial activities, whether exercised directly or through a proxy. On the other hand, a commercial activity may be carried out if it fulfills all the following conditions:
  
  • This activity is carried out as an ancillary activity
  • Goods or services connected with the exercise of his profession
  • These goods or services are intended for customers or other members of the profession
  • Subject to informing the Council in writing of the order of its Bar.
• with the following statutes :
  
  • Associate of a general partnership (SNC)
  • General partner in the limited partnerships (CBS) and limited partnerships (CBS)
  • Manager in a limited liability company (SARL), member of the Executive Board or Director-General of a public limited liability company (SA) unless they are for the purpose of managing family interests or practicing the profession of lawyer
  • Manager of a civil business unless its purpose is the management of family interests or the pursuit of the profession of lawyer

In order to ensure the development of the knowledge necessary for the practice of the profession, all lawyers registered on the Order's roster are subject to an obligation of continuous training of 20 hours per year or 40 hours in two consecutive years.

The obligation of continuing training shall be fulfilled:

• Through participation in legal or vocational training activities provided by regional vocational training centers or university establishments
• Participation in training provided by lawyers or other educational institutions
• By attending legal seminars or conferences connected with the professional activity of lawyers
• Providing legal education related to the professional activity of lawyers, in an academic or professional context
• Through the publication of legal works.

Lawyers shall, by 31 January of each preceding calendar year at the latest, declare and justify to the council of the college to which they belong the conditions under which they have fulfilled their obligation to provide continuing training during the preceding year.