This month we interview a lawyer from the mountainous region of Savoy, in South-Eastern France. Catherine Pachoud is a lawyer in the Philippe cabinet in Chambéry, one of the major towns in this thriving area of good food and winter sports – and more than this!
What is the story of your cabinet?
It was founded by Mr Paul Philippe in 1984 and I joined him as an employee in 1987, all fresh out of school.
Originally, he was not a lawyer but a legal advisor. In France, in the past, there was a separate profession called conseil juridique (French for legal advisor), who were allowed to give legal advice and work on legal issues but not to speak in court. They were not part of a bar, but they were under the authority and watch of the attorney general’s office, making it a regulated profession as well, with a high level of legal expertise.
With the advent of the European Union, this French peculiarity was to disappear and legal advisors were merged with lawyers in 1992. As a matter of fact, this is the year I was supposed to officially be made an advisor, so I went straight to becoming a lawyer instead. Mr Philippe became a lawyer and we became associates in 2006. The year before, his son Matthieu also joined us as a lawyer.
So now you work like any other lawfirm?
Technically yes, but we remain mostly an advisor's firm. We focus on tax law and commercial law, which once was the core business of legal advisors.
This is the mountainside here, so a lot of our clients are businesses and are linked to winter sports. There are also restaurants, hotels, ski rentals, and real estate linked with tourism. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of powerful industries in Savoy. You know, we became French only in 1860 and at the time no one wanted this poor, rural piece of mountain with no activities and no profits! Italians were practically getting rid of us! Nowadays it is just the opposite: we are a very wealthy and active part of France. Both because of winter tourism and because of big, sometimes high-tech industries that are internationally known.
Savoy has a lot to offer. I am a born and bred Savoyard and I can praise the food and drinks here as well. An interesting story: our white wine is made with grapes originally coming from Cyprus, it was a Cypriot princess who married a Duke of Savoy in the fifteenth century and she brought the grapes along. This is only one example of the exciting gastronomic scene we have in Savoy.
What would be your best advice to a young lawyer today?
Do not stay alone. Get associated with a lawfirm that has good specialities. And specialise yourself! You can work on several branches of law but get a domain of speciality. Today, especially in France, we face the competition of other professions such as accountants and notaries. I can see it every day. Although to be honest, accountants are typically given smaller, simpler legal tasks, and we are still asked to deal with the bigger, more interesting cases!
