A foreign legal consultant is an American lawyer or American attorney authorized to exercise in France, in this capacity, the activities of legal consultation and drafting of documents under private signature for others, in international law or in the law in which he is qualified.
Getting registered with the French Bar
An American Lawyer can get registered with the French Bar and authorized to practice American Law or International Law in France after submitting an application to the National Bar Council.
If you take a special exam with the Paris Bar, you may practice French Law. Otherwise, you will be allowed to practice in France: American Law or International Law. You will have to prepare a Long-stay visa application and determine which type of professional visa best fits your personal circumstances. If you want to practice as a self-employed attorney, you may choose either the entrepreneur visa or the Talent Passport Visa. The formalities are intertwined and require a high degree of precision.
The candidate must prove that he is regularly registered as a lawyer in a non-member state of the European Union, which is linked to the latter by an agreement providing for the activity of legal consultation and drafting of documents under private signature for others.
Once authorized by the National Bar Council, the lawyer who wishes to practice on a permanent basis must contact the French bar of his choice with a view to requesting registration on the special list of foreign legal consultants, according to the common law registration procedure which includes taking the oath before the Court of Appeal.
Limitation of scope in your legal practice
When you are registered with the bar, you will have to remember the limitations of your license to practice law in France. A lawyer registered with the bar of a non-member State of the European Union but linked with the EU by an international treaty containing provisions relating to legal services, is authorized to exercise in France, on a temporary and occasional or permanent basis, the activity of legal consultation and drafting of documents under private signature for others, in international law and in the law of the States in which he is registered and authorized to exercise the activity of lawyer, with the exception of European Union law and the law of the States members of the European Union.
The authorized activity will be limited to legal consultation and the drafting of documents under private signature for others in international law and foreign law (law of the State in which the lawyer is registered and of the States in which he is authorized to exercise the activity of lawyer). It may not concern either EU law or the law of its member states.
Once authorized by the National Bar Council, the lawyer who wishes to practice on a permanent basis must contact the French bar of his choice with a view to requesting registration on the special list of foreign legal consultants, according to the common law registration procedure which includes taking the oath before the Court of Appeal. The lawyer must, in particular, justify common law conditions relating to his morality (L. 1971, art. 17) and the existence of a professional domicile in France.
The foreign legal consultant practices in France under his professional title from the State of origin.
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