“I am often told that this decision was courageous, ambitious, risky and sometimes even reckless. Yet I don’t feel like I’ve done the impossible or haven’t been reasonable. In fact, I think any dream can be within everyone’s reach.
On the other hand, one thing is certain: we must show unfailing determination. What counts are the means and the human investment that we are ready to implement in order to achieve this. One should not count his hours and devote most of his time to the development of the structure.
A vocation
For me, becoming a lawyer was a vocation. I never wanted to do anything else. Since the age of 15, I have been going through the years of study with the aim of wearing the dress one day.
To do this, I obtained a law degree, business option, at the Faculty of Law of Aix-en-Provence, before joining the Institute of Business Law of the faculty for a Master 2 in Corporate Engineering. . Then, I followed a preparation for the entrance exam to the CRFPA, the Regional Center for Professional Training of Lawyers. I finally joined the law school in Marseille for eighteen months.
After many years of study, I graduated in November 2017 with the certificate of aptitude for the profession of lawyer. Two months later, I took the oath. The beginning of a story.
When one becomes a lawyer, the logical path that is offered to us is to carry out a liberal collaboration in an already established law firm. Of course, the idea crossed my mind. But beyond my desire to become a lawyer, I also wanted to be an entrepreneur.
A difficult but exciting job
I wanted to create a structure based on values such as proximity, availability, benevolence, with a modern vision of the profession. I decided to launch Gautelier Avocats a few weeks after taking the oath, at age 25.
When I put up my plate, I had only one client, a company with which I still have a lot of fun working today. It was a big business transfer case.
I used the fees from this first file and the small personal savings that I had accumulated through my student jobs to buy a computer, a printer and rent an office. I had found premises of 25 m² at reasonable rent, established on the top floor of a beautiful building, near the center of Salon-de-Provence. There were other companies installed in the building, with which I was able to create synergies.
I immediately felt in my place in the profession, I never regretted my choice even for a single second. I felt no frustration or disappointment. The profession of lawyer is a wonderful profession.
We often hear that it is a job that is becoming more and more difficult. It’s true. We cannot say the opposite. The pressure and the workload are important, but I am convinced that it is a job in which you can perfectly flourish if you are passionate about it.
Overcome problems
When I started, I wanted to settle in the city in which I had grown up. This reassured me. When you start, nothing is obvious. You have to prove yourself, work a lot more to gain the trust of your customers, to retain them. We have no room for error, especially since no one knows you.
My first clients and partners encouraged me a lot. They knew I was getting into the business, they believed in the structure I was building, and they then helped develop my clientele through word of mouth.
A few months later, I recruited my first employee, and little by little, the firm developed. When you set up on your own, you quickly find yourself confronted with many problems: managing the administration, your clients, the hearings, the processing of files… You have to document yourself, get information, and very quickly have a certain sense of the responsibilities.
I had prepared for it. I had made the decision, even in my personal life, to make my project a priority. This necessarily implies concessions.
To manage a team
Today, the firm is doing quite well, I intervene in business law and real estate law, everywhere in France, both in advice and in litigation.
I have just taken spacious premises (70 m²), with individual offices, meeting room, fully equipped and renovated, still in Salon-de-Provence. After all, didn’t Victor Hugo say that “The will is the nail on which you hang your project to always have it in front of your eyes”?
I now have a team made up of a lawyer and an office manager with whom I work and I make sure to implement management through benevolence. »
To note
If you also have a beautiful (or less beautiful) story to tell, do not hesitate to contact us: redaction-start@lesechos.fr
And to read other inspiring testimonials, it’s HERE.