Rentrée du Barreau de Paris

INTERNATIONAL

Rentrée du Barreau de Paris

In November 2022, I travelled to Paris along with Immediate Past President Matthew Allan to represent Westminster & Holborn Law Society at ‘Rentrée du Barreau de Paris’, the Opening of the Legal Year of the Paris Bar.

On Thursday 24 November, a conference was hosted at the Paris Bar’s offices with the title ‘Nature, a new subject of law?’. The main focus of the conference was environmental law and more specifically whether the environment should be afforded legal standing. Speakers and panellists were experts from around the world including MEPs, other politicians, lawyers, bar leaders, academics and UN rapporteurs.

The first panel discussed the question ‘Conferring legal status and rights to nature: the ultimate resort of law to avoid the extinction of ecosystems?’. Much consideration was given to aspects of the natural world that need protecting and how this can happen. I was particularly inspired by Nisreen Elsaim, Coordinator of the Sudanese Youth Organization on Climate Change (YES) and Laureate of the Marianne Initiative for Human Rights defenders; despite additional challenges faced, her commitment to nature and climate is incredible.

The second panel were tasked with answering, ‘Abandoning a land that has become impossible to live on: what status for climate refugees?’. The conference was followed by a passionate public speaking contest on human rights and the rights of defence, with a judging panel selecting a winner of the Mario Stasi Prize. The day ended with networking between representatives from law societies and legal bars from across the world.

On Friday 25 November, the Solemn Opening Ceremony took place at Théâtre du Châtelet and included several passionate speeches. In the evening, we attended a formal dinner at the Sénat, hosted by the minister of justice. We were also invited to attend the after party at Maxim’s, hosted by the ‘secretaries of the conference’, being a secretary of the conference is a prestigious appointment bestowed on the leading advocates from across France. This marked the end of the celebrations and was a good opportunity for everyone to let their hair down on the dance floor!

Our Society is twinned with the Paris Bar so it was a great opportunity to meet with their Bâtonnière, Julie Couturier, and her colleagues to continue to develop the relationship between our organisations. The Paris Bar was founded under the reign of Louis XIV and now represents almost 30,000 lawyers, which is nearly half of those practising in France. This was an excellent opportunity to meet with lawyers based in Paris and further afield looking to work with law firms in England and we of course happily promoted our Society and its members.

My thanks to Bâtonnière Julie Couturier and her colleagues at the Paris Bar for hosting a truly wonderful event.