Reference Decision: cc • N° 80-16.605 • 1982-01-13 • View the decision →
Imagine: you are a lawyer in Giromagny, in the Territoire de Belfort, and you also have a practice in Belfort itself. The internal rules of your bar association require you to have your name appear only once on the professional list in the telephone directory. So far, nothing unusual. But you discover that the same provision prevents you from appearing in the listings of both towns, whereas another rule of the same regulations allows it. What to do? This is the question that a lawyer from Lille asked himself, and the Court of Cassation ruled in his favour in 1982.
In short, the highest court considered that the lower courts had "distorted" the regulations by applying together two provisions which governed different situations. Result: the lawyer obtained the right to be listed in the directories of Lille, Roubaix and Villeneuve-d'Ascq. A decision that seems technical, but has concrete repercussions for any professional subject to internal rules.
📌 Does this apply to your situation? Maître Cécile Zakine, French real estate lawyer, practises throughout France.
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