Grenoble Law SchoolLaw at the top

What is your professional background?

I passed the ENM exam in 1998. I got my first job in 2000, as a deputy prosecutor in Valenciennes. I then served as deputy prosecutor in Lyon from 2003 to 2007, then as a sentencing judge in Grenoble from 2007 to 2011. After that, I served as chief judge of the Mayotte District Court when the position was created in 2011 until 2014. Finally, I was a juvenile court judge in Grenoble from 2014 to 2016.

Since 2016, I have been working as a regional training coordinator (CRF) at the ENM, which means that I no longer have any judicial responsibilities. There are only 12 CRFs in France, divided by geographical area. I am responsible for the courts of appeal in Chambéry, Grenoble, and Nîmes.

The role of a CRF is to supervise judicial auditors (students who have passed the ENM entrance exam), particularly during their internship period. I travel a lot in my job to meet with each of the interns, and the relationships I build with them are what make my work so rewarding.

How can one join the ENM?

The ENM entrance exam consists of admission tests followed by eligibility tests.

This competition is selective but not inaccessible for students who are willing to put in the effort. Looking at the figures for 2017, there were 2,328 applicants for the three competitions (for students and professionals), of whom 1,655 actually took the tests. Of these, 362 were deemed eligible and 244 were ultimately admitted.

If a student is interested in becoming a magistrate, they should not hold back. We are currently at an unprecedented level of recruitment in terms of the number of positions available. This year, for example, in the first competitive examination (the one taken by students), 192 positions are open, which is a very significant number.

With hard work, a good law student who is open-minded about society, has a good command of language, has mastered the art of essay writing, and, if possible, has had the opportunity to complete an internship, is perfectly qualified to take the exam. 

It is also important to follow a preparation course, offered in particular by the Institutes of Judicial Studies or certain Institutes of Political Studies, to increase your chances of success. In my opinion, this offers three advantages:

• extensive training in essay writing, which provides a solid method;
• awareness of current issues;
• mutual assistance among students, with the opportunity to work in groups and exchange revision notes.

In addition to this, I advise all candidates to read the press. It provides insight into society and helps you work on your writing style.

What does training at the ENM involve?

Students who pass the ENM entrance exam become judicial auditors, a status that entitles them to a salary. They wear robes, take an oath, and must comply with ethical obligations.

The ENM is a training school. The aim is to acquire professional skills and become familiar with the major issues facing civil society and public policy. The training is based on peer-to-peer learning, and almost all of the teachers are magistrates.

Training at the ENM lasts 31 months. It is designed as a combination of internships and periods at the ENM. During their studies, students spend eight months at the school in Bordeaux. The curriculum alternates between learning professional techniques and workshops and conferences on more cross-disciplinary issues relating to social, economic, sociological, ethical, and other challenges. The courses focus on active learning and consist of small group role-playing exercises, such as mock trials based on real cases. Many external contributors participate in the training and share their knowledge (notaries, researchers, lawyers, police officers, doctors, sociologists, journalists, etc.).

Once they have completed their training in Bordeaux, judicial auditors leave for a 10-month internship in district courts throughout France. In each court, there is a magistrate who is the director of the internship center (DCS) and is responsible for supervising and evaluating the intern. I work closely with him to ensure that the internship runs smoothly.

During their internship, judicial trainees will experience all the duties of a magistrate. They will also be required to complete other internships in peripheral institutions (internships in law firms, police stations, prefectures, etc.) or in other professional environments (internships abroad, external internships).

The internship is evaluated in a professional setting by the CRF during three key moments:

• presiding over a criminal hearing;
• requests at the criminal hearing;
• holding of a civil cabinet hearing.

In addition, qualitative assessments are carried out for each function by the training supervisors and the DCS, which enable the aptitude of the judicial auditors to perform the duties of a magistrate to be assessed. At the end of the internship, the DCS compiles a summary of all these assessments and the CRF draws up an aptitude report. A trainee judge may be required to repeat the internship if they do not appear ready to perform the duties for which they are intended.

The ENM training program has an international reputation. It is a very comprehensive program that attracts interest from many countries around the world. I have noticed that the judicial auditors who arrive for their internships already have real expertise thanks to their training at the school.

What qualities are required to become a judge?

The job of a judge requires a minimum level of technical knowledge of the law, but that alone is not enough. In their work, judges are confronted with a variety of situations and people who have sometimes had difficult lives, and they need to be able to handle these situations with empathy, open-mindedness, common sense, and patience. One can feel alone when making decisions that are sometimes difficult. But it is the feeling of being useful in my job that, in my opinion, makes the role of magistrate so interesting.

To become magistrates, judicial auditors must validate their training at the ENM by passing three types of exams: exams at the end of their studies in Bordeaux, three exams graded by the CRFs during their judicial internship, and three other exams known as "aptitude and ranking" exams, the most important of which is a grand oral exam before a jury independent of the ENM. The average pass rate at the end of the ENM is 95%. The marks obtained are used to rank the judicial auditors, based on which they can choose the positions they want from the list published by the ministry.

Various positions are available after graduation:

• assistant district attorney;
• investigating judge;
• sentence enforcement judge;
• juvenile court judge;
• district court judge;
• judge at the District Court;
• judge assigned to a court of appeals.

This wide variety of functions is one of the advantages of this profession, although magistrates are not required to explore all of them if they are particularly attached to one in particular.