There is about 35.000 'Avocat' in France. More than 18.000 of them are member of the Paris Bar. A French Avocat, is an Attorney-at-Law, admitted to practice before all jurisdictions in France and before the European Union Court of Justice.

Moreover, because of his knowledge of both French and European Union legal system, and his practicing of a civil law system [read more], he will be an important counseller for all investments in Civil law countries particularly in Europe (Belgium, Swizeland, Luxembourg, etc.), in Africa (Algeria, Angola, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, etc.), or in the Middle East (Egypt, Koweit, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Turkey, etc.).

In France, an ‘Avocat’ is both an adviser and an advocate, and may be an intermediary, a custodian, an arbitrator, a trustee, and much more. But he cannot be the chairman or chief executive officer of any company or corporation. 

As an adviser, the Avocat may issue opinions, may draft any contractual documents, and may participate in their negotiation. 

As an advocate, the Avocat may represent a party in litigation as agent for service, and may present written and oral arguments to the court or to the arbitration tribunal, as the case may be, on behalf of that party. 

As an intermediary, the Avocat acts as the agent of his client but the scope of the agency must be limited, and the Avocat cannot agree to become a de facto principal or manager of his client's business or finances. 

As a custodian, the Avocat may receive funds, which must be deposited on a clients' account, and he must be able to account for them at any time. Moreover, he may be appointed custodian of documents which have to be kept in escrow. 

As an arbitrator, the Avocat acts as a judge, i.e. must remain totally independent from the parties, and will ultimately be rendering an award enforceable under French and European Union law or, as the case may be, under any applicable international convention. 

As a trustee, the Avocat, shall act in accordance with the laws which govern the trust, but he must ascertain for himself that the trust has a legitimate purpose. 

As a lobbyist, the Avocat acts as the representative of his client vis à vis all National or International Authorities, in which case he must disclose to such Authorities in which capacity he is acting and the identity of his clients. 

An Avocat cannot be the chief executive officer of any company or corporation, but he may be a director ("administrateur") or a member (and even the chairman) of the supervisory board ("Conseil de Surveillance") of a "Société Anonyme". 

There are also several restrictions on the Avocat who is holding a public position (e.g. an Avocat, who is a Member of Parliament, cannot act against the French State, any administration thereof, or against State-owned corporations).

DUTIES, GENERAL BASIS: 

The duties of an Avocat have evolved from custom to statute, most recently as a consequence of the provisions of the law N° 90-1259 of December 31, 1990, amending the law N° 71-1130 of December 31, 1971, and of its implementing decree N° 91-1197 of November 27, 1991. 

However, codes of practice and case law still play a large part in shaping the duties of the Avocat, and in this respect, the "Conseil National des Barreaux" (hereinafter referred to as the "CNB"), which is the national body instituted by the law N° 90-1259 of December 31, 1990 to oversee the local Bars. Local Rules' of practice have been harmonized and recently unified into one single Rules of practice for all french bars, the "Règlement Intérieur Unifié des Barreaux de France" [PDF]. The ability of the CNB to issue compulsory ethical norms has been challenged in court and the cases are going to be ruled upon by the French Supreme Court. 

It should be noted that many local Bars, including the largest by far, i.e. the Paris Bar (more than 18.000 members), have already incorporated into their code the European code of practice adopted in Strasbourg in 1988 by the Council of the Bars of Europe ("CCBE"). No doubt, that the provisions of the European code of practice, as amended, also influenced the contents of the codes of practice and had on them a harmonizing effect. 

In short, the duties of an Avocat are to abide by the canons of the profession, i.e. to act with dignity, conscientiously, independently, and with humanity. More practically, his duties are to maintain and preserve the integrity of the confidentiality obligation that he has undertaken in his relationship with his client, to educate himself in the law, to keep informed of the developments of his sphere of interest in the law, and to refrain from accepting briefs or instructions from clients which are beyond the scope of his expertise, which cannot be diligently carried out, or which are conflicting with some interests of which he is already in charge.

 Zia Oloumi, Esq., Avocat à la Cour de Paris.