Henri Michel Siraga
Franaise des Juristes dEntreprise (AFJE)
AFJE
Location:
The AFJE, like two-thirds of its membership, is based in central Paris. In addition to Paris, the AFJE also has 10 regional groups spread throughout the country.
Current leadership:
The AFJE is governed by a 21-strong board of directors, all of whom are volunteers. New directors are proposed by current board members, and confirmed by the association's annual general meeting. The board of directors also appoints the association's president, vice presidents, secretary and treasury. The current president is Henri Michel Siraga, general counsel at French aircraft manufacturing company, Dassault Aviation.
Membership
The AFJE has around 3,000 individual members, working for approximately 1,900 companies across France. In some large multinational companies, the organisation has more than 100 individual members. The board of directors is permitted to grant honorary membership to retired in-house counsel.
Status:
The AFJE is a private members organisation, with no special status in relation to the courts or other legal bodies. In-house lawyers in France are not permitted to be a member of their local bar, and their correspondence does not attract attorney-client privilege.
Organisation and objectives:
The organisation exists to promote the status of the company lawyer, both with other professions and within companies themselves. The association also exists to promote French companies generally, especially within the European Union.
Benefits of membership:
The organisation runs a comprehensive series of training programmes. At present, the AFJE coordinates 15 different specialist commissions, covering a mixture of practice and management-centred topics. In a typical month, several of these commissions will hold an event to discuss topical issues. In addition, each month, law firms are invited to organise a specialist training event for AFJE members.
Current hot topic
Before the recent presidential election, Jacques Chirac's government proposed that France's two main legal professions - private practice "avocats" and in-house "juristes d'entreprise" - should come together. The proposal would create a third major category of lawyer in France, to be known as "avocat d'entreprise" (company attorney). Since the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2007 this proposal has been put on hold - although AFJE president Henri Michel Siraga expects it to be reactivated. The proposal was initially promoted by Marc Guillaume, director of civil and criminal affairs at France's ministry of justice.
At present, France's private practice and in-house lawyers follow two slightly different career paths. Although both attend the same universities, private practice lawyers then go on to study for an additional year-long diploma. Successful completion of this diploma allows them to take the professional title "avocat", and also appear in front of the higher courts. By contrast, in-house lawyers are not required to complete the diploma in order to become a juristes d'entreprise. However, this also means that they cannot call themselves "avocat", or appear in the higher courts.
The current regime allows for movement between both professions, although sacrifices are required. Private practice avocats are free to become juristes d'entreprise at any time, but they must first surrender their bar membership and rights of audience. In contrast, juristes d'entreprise must work in-house for at least eight years before they can apply to join the bar, and work for a law firm as a fully-fledge avocat. While permission to join the bar is normally a formality, juristes d'entreprise who join law firms as advocates must agree to adhere to their local bar's profession code of conduct.
Under the new proposals, members of the new avocat d'entreprise profession would be required to study for the same postgraduate diploma as their private practice counterparts. However, even then, they would not enjoy the same rights of audience as traditional avocats. Curiously, the AFJE does not want such rights, arguing that its members have no interest in appearing in court.
Logistically, AFJE's president Mr Siraga believes the proposals would cause problems for his association's members, especially as the new regime was becoming established. If implemented, it would mean that some companies would have to employ two types of in-house lawyer, both with different rights and obligations. This does not, however, mean that the AFJE opposes the proposals. Indeed, Mr Siraga suggests that existing juristes d'entreprise should be permitted to become an avocat d'entreprise after just two years, without the need to study for the new qualification.
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