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The Law for Growth, Activity and Equal Economic Opportunity, known as the Macron Law , includes a section concerning the legal professions .
Interprofessional Practice Firms: Improving Collaboration Between Legal Professions: –
Law n° 2015-990 of August 6, 2015 was validated by the Constitutional Council and published on August 7, 2015.
In particular, it provides in its article 65 the possibility for legal professionals to create interprofessional practice companies.
“Under the conditions provided for in Article 38 of the Constitution, the Government is authorized to take by ordinances, within a period of eight months from the promulgation of this law, the measures falling within the scope of the law for:
1° Modernize the conditions for exercising the profession of chartered accountant by transposing the provisions of Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 20 November 2013, amending Directive 2005/36/EC relating to the recognition of and Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System (“IMI Regulation”) by Ordinance No 45-2138 of September 19, 1945 establishing the order of chartered accountants and regulating the title and profession of chartered accountant;
Parole: Settlement challenges for some legal professions: –
2° Facilitate the creation of companies whose purpose is the exercise in common of several of the professions of lawyer, lawyer at the Council of State and at the Court of Cassation, judicial auctioneer, judicial officer, notary, judicial administrator, legal representative, industrial property lawyer and chartered accountant:
a) In which all of the capital and voting rights are held, directly or indirectly, by persons exercising one of the professions exercised in common within the said company or by persons legally established in a Member State of the European Union, in another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or in the Swiss Confederation who exercise as a liberal professional, in one of these States, an activity subject to a legislative or regulatory status or subordinated the possession of a recognized national or international diploma and practicing one or more of the professions constituting the corporate purpose of the company;
b) Who can practice a profession only if one of their associates fulfills the conditions required to practice the said profession;
c) By preserving the ethical principles applicable to each profession;
d) Taking into account the incompatibilities and risks of conflicts of interest specific to each profession;
e) By preserving the integrity of the missions of professionals linked to the status of public and ministerial officer in the exercise of their functions;
f) By ensuring the representation of at least one member, practicing in the company, of each profession exercised by the company within the board of directors or the supervisory board of the company. »
Thus, it will be possible for Lawyers, Notaries, Bailiffs, auctioneers, judicial administrators, judicial representatives, industrial property attorneys and chartered accountants to come together within the same structure.
With this novelty, French law is in tune with several of its European neighbors who already authorized this collaborative work.
However, if the progress seems interesting, it must be considered under the prism of the conditions of installation of each of the professions which can adhere to such a society of interprofessional practice.
Indeed, and this is the problem, not all the legal professions are free to set up as they wish, this is for example the case of notaries, bailiffs or commissioner-evaluators.
Article 52 of this law gives them the possibility of settling freely but limits this freedom in the process.
“Notaries, bailiffs and judicial auctioneers can set up freely in areas where the establishment of offices seems useful to strengthen proximity or the supply of services.
These areas are determined by a map drawn up jointly by the Ministers of Justice and the Economy, on a proposal from the Competition Authority pursuant to Article L. 462-4-1 of the Commercial Code. They are defined in detail with regard to criteria specified by decree, including a demographic analysis of the foreseeable evolution of the number of professionals installed.
To this end, this map identifies the sectors in which, to strengthen proximity or the supply of services, the creation of new offices of notary, bailiff or judicial auctioneer appears useful.
In order to guarantee a gradual increase in the number of offices to be created, so as not to upset the activity conditions of existing offices, this map is accompanied by recommendations on the pace of installation compatible with a gradual increase in the number of professionals. in the area concerned. This map is made public and revised every two years. »
These professionals are free to set up in areas where the establishment of offices seems useful. These zones are determined jointly by the Ministers of Justice and the Economy on the proposal of the Autorité de la concurrence.
Therefore, if in theory it will be possible to create structures that can meet all the needs of customers, in practice the creation of such structures will be conditioned by the prior authorization to settle freely .
