Lawyers at the Courts

 

Lawyers at the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) (hereinafter “lawyers at the Courts”) are ministerial officers who primarily practise before France’s highest administrative and judicial courts, namely the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation). This specialised profession operates within a niche legal market and comprises a relatively small number of practitioners.

 

Change in the number of offices since the creation of the profession

Period Number of offices
1817-2016 60
2016-2018 64, including 4 creations
2018-2020 68, including 4 creations
2021-2023 70, including 2 creations
2023-2025 71, including 1 creation
2025-2027 72, including 1 creation

Opinions on freedom of establishment

In accordance with the Growth and Activity Law, the Autorité issues an opinion to the French Minister of Justice every five years on the freedom of establishment of lawyers at the Courts.

Given the unique nature of this profession, the Autorité adopts a different approach and analysis from than for the other professions subject to the freedom of establishment regime; in particular, no proposed geographic map of recommended appointments is prepared.

Furthermore, the opinion issued by the Autorité is published directly in the Official Journal (Journal officiel), which marks the opening of the application process for newly created offices.

In Opinion 25-A-06 of 16 April 2025, the Autorité de la concurrence recommended that the French government create one new office of lawyer at the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) by 2027, in addition to the 11 offices already created since 2017, bringing the total number of offices to 72.

The Autorité welcomed the significant efforts made by the Bar Association of Lawyers at the Courts (Ordre des avocats aux Conseils) and the Chancellery (Chancellerie) to take into account the recommendations made in its previous opinions. However, the recurring observation of the narrowness of the pool of candidates must not be an obstacle to achieving the objective enshrined in the law of a gradual increase in the number of offices where the economic situation so justifies. It therefore seems essential to establish measures to foster the entry of new professionals, in particular by facilitating the entry of experienced professionals into the profession, including associates working for lawyers at the courts. In its opinion of 16 April 2025, the Autorité therefore made new recommendations on five objectives:

  • promote the use of exceptional access routes to the profession, in particular for experienced legal associates of lawyers at the Courts;
  • foster success in the CAPAC examination, notably by removing the limit of three exam presentations and one repeat per year;
  • clarify the conditions of practice for multi-professional companies combining lawyers at the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) and avocats à la cour, which in France are lawyers registered with a bar association in a region with an appeal court;
  • remove the obligation for lawyers at the Courts to have a professional domicile in Paris or the neighbouring départements;
  • broaden the possibilities for recruiting salaried lawyers at the Courts by increasing the number of salaried lawyers at the Courts from 1 to 2 per self-employed lawyer at the Courts.

Opinion 25-A-06 of 16 April 2025 was published in the Official Journal on 20 April 2025.

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In Opinion 23-A-03 of 7 April 2023, the Autorité de la concurrence recommended that the French government create two new offices of lawyer at the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) by 2025, in addition to the 10 offices already created since 2017, bringing the total number of offices to 72.

The Autorité welcomed the significant efforts made by the Bar Association of Lawyers at the Courts (Ordre des avocats aux Conseils) and the Chancellery (Chancellerie) to take into account the recommendations made in its previous opinions. Legislative and regulatory amendments, as well as changes made within the existing legal framework, have been introduced, notably to (i) improve transparency and efficiency in the appointment process when applications are submitted to the Chancellery and in the information available on access to the profession and (ii) promote greater access for women. In respect of the latter, the Autorité welcomed the fact that three of the five senior positions on the Council of the Bar Association of Lawyers at the Courts are now held by women.

However, additional measures could further improve the framework governing the freedom of establishment of lawyers at the Courts. In its opinion of 7 April 2023, the Autorité therefore made new recommendations on five objectives:

  • broaden the pool of potential candidates by increasing communication on the routes into the profession and facilitating access for professionals already working within existing offices;
  • introduce greater transparency on the criteria used to rank candidates for newly-created offices;
  • provide more up-to-date information on the status of applications for newly-created offices;
  • facilitate the development of newly-created offices, in particular by making the allocation of collective charges more transparent, objective and equitable;
  • improve the transmission of information to the Autorité, notably through the implementation of the platform providing offices with precise statistics on their activity before the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation).

 Opinion 23-A-03 of 7 April 2023 was published in the Official Journal on 22 April 2023.

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In Opinion 21-A-02 of 23 March 2021, the Autorité de la concurrence recommended that the French government create two new offices of lawyer at the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) by 2023, in addition to the eight offices already created since 2017, bringing the total number of offices to 70.

The Autorité welcomed the significant efforts made by the Bar Association of Lawyers at the Courts (Ordre des avocats aux Conseils) and the Chancellery (Chancellerie) to take into account the recommendations made in its previous opinions.Several legislative and regulatory texts have recently amended the legal framework applicable to lawyers at the Courts, notably with regard to the composition of the professional qualifying examination board, the governance and organisation of professional training, and the rules governing professional communications and ethics. These measures have led to significant progress in the modernisation of the profession, as well as real support for the development of newly-created offices.

However, certain additional measures could further improve the framework governing the freedom of establishment of lawyers at the Courts. In the opinion published today, the Autorité makes new recommendations on the following points:

  • introduce greater transparency regarding the criteria used to rank candidates for newly created offices;
  • provide broader information on the routes into the profession of lawyer at the Courts, by extending communication on the profession and training throughout the country, and by incorporating a module on the requirements and conditions for establishing an office into the training programme.

Opinion 21-A-02 of 23 March 2021 was published in the Official Journal on 9 April 2021.

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In its Opinion No. 18-A-11 of 25 October 2018, the Autorité reviewed the establishments from the first two-year period and again recommended the creation of four offices by 2020.

The Autorité noted that the Association of Lawyers at the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d'État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) followed several of the qualitative recommendations made in its 2016 opinion. In its second opinion, it formulated certain additions aimed at making the selection and appointment of candidates to created offices more transparent, improving the collection of information on the activity of the offices, increasing the presence and representation of women in the profession and allowing for a relaxation of the obstacles to the development of a real competitive emulation in this highly concentrated market.

Opinion No. 18-A-11 of 25 October 2018 was published in the Official Journal on 1 November 2018.

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In its Opinion No. 16-A-18 of 10 October 2016, the Autorité de la concurrence recommended the creation of four offices by 2018.

It also made several recommendations to improve access to offices (especially for women) and lower the barriers to entry for future candidates. Among them, the Autorité recommended:

- extending the deadline for applications for the creation of offices and making the procedure for ranking applicants for the offices created more transparent;

- reducing the barriers to entry for these candidates, particularly in terms of training and advertising;

- making the profession better known to law students and lawyers at the Court, to broaden the pool of future candidates for establishment;

- improving women's access to offices, by strengthening work-life balance arrangements and improving the statistical information available by gender on this issue.

Opinion 16-A-18 of 10 October 2016 was published in the Official Journal on 1 November 2016.

For more information, please refer to: