Grenoble Law SchoolLaw at the top

Can you briefly describe your career path for us? 

After obtaining a law degree from the University of Lille, I continued my academic studies at the University of Lyon 3 Law School until I obtained the Diplôme Supérieur de Notariat (DSN). I then began my professional career as an employee at two major law firms in Lyon, where I worked for seven years. In 1998, I joined an urban law firm in Grenoble as a partner.
Alongside my work at the firm, I have held several positions in our professional bodies.

You actively participate in university life through your involvement in the Faculty Council and your attendance at events: why is this important to you?

I have always been interested and involved in education. I started out as a teaching assistant at Lyon 3 University. I then regularly participated in the DSN semester teaching days, thesis juries, and M2 notarial tax courses.
Like all notaries, I owe a great deal to the high-level university education I received, and it is clear to me that the profession must continue to take an interest in the life of the Faculty, its projects, and the evolution of higher education. We must be able to engage in dialogue with the university community in order to assess, for example, the suitability of the nature and quality of the teaching provided in relation to the needs of the profession. I imagine that the Faculty must also be able to benefit from the analysis of representatives of all legal professions.

Do you welcome students (on internships, work-study programs, or as trainee notaries) to your office? Why is it important to support the next generation?

Yes, our organization is large enough to take on students, and we make sure to always have trainee notaries. It is essential that the profession plays its part in training future graduates, as they are our successors and represent the future of the profession. The DESN program, with its combination of classes and work placements, provides comprehensive, high-quality training. More selfishly, offering positions to future graduates, regardless of their level of study, also allows us to identify the best candidates for each position. 

Every year, the Faculty of Law awards degrees to around 20 students in the Master's program in Notarial Law, who often go on to pursue a DESN (specialized studies diploma in notarial law). What career opportunities are available to them locally?

Despite the current difficult economic climate, all students pursuing a DESN degree have found internships. Once they graduate, these students are poised to become high-ranking employees or to set up their own practices as individual or partner notaries.

You have held several positions within notarial bodies and, in particular, you were the first President of the Interdepartmental Chamber of Notaries of Dauphiné, which was created last year. What has this new structure brought to the profession at the local level?

I believe that, by eliminating the former bodies and thus simplifying the organization, it has undeniably brought greater clarity to the governance of notaries of the Court of Appeals. There was no longer any practical use in maintaining four bodies, as this created a lack of understanding about the distribution of respective powers and added complexity to the budget. 
Decisions can be made more quickly, and the standardization of professional practices and activities throughout the Court of Appeals' jurisdiction is better ensured.

What are the current and future challenges facing the notarial profession? 

Like many other professions, this one faces numerous challenges. Currently, I believe that we must first complete and successfully integrate, under favorable economic conditions, all notaries who have established new practices. At present, nearly 63% of practicing notaries were not appointed 10 years ago! This successful integration must involve a severe slowdown or even a suspension in the number of new practices being established.
With regard to more technical issues, I would mention the management of cybercrime to secure the financial flows that pass through notaries' offices, as well as the security of confidential data in relation to professional secrecy.
One inevitably thinks of the development of AI. It seems quite clear that our daily professional practice is going to change. On the optimistic side, AI will enable notaries and their staff to free themselves from certain administrative tasks with little added value, allowing them to focus on legal issues and the quality of the personalized advice they offer to clients. 

What advice would you give to a student who wants to become a notary?

On the question of knowledge, I would advise developing one's legal reasoning skills, that is, the ability to ask the right questions in order to arrive at the most reliable legal answer. In my opinion, a good lawyer has always been, first and foremost, someone who knows how to ask the right questions. 
Beyond knowledge, this profession requires experience and interpersonal skills. I think it is important for young graduates to work for a few years as employees before setting up their own practice, if possible in different fields.
You have to get to know yourself well, decide whether you want to practice in an urban or rural setting, whether you want to work alone or with others, and whether you want to be a generalist or a specialist. The job of a notary in a large Parisian firm is completely different from that of an individual notary in a rural community of 2,000 inhabitants.
Finally, it is important to be aware of the professional and ethical rules governing this very specific status of public officer, which require a high degree of rigor and are not necessarily suitable for everyone.