A climate of fear, insults and contempt, as well as facts that may amount to harassment. In February 2021, Release published an investigation into the practices of lawyer Emmanuel Pierrat within his firm. Nearly a year and a half later, the latter has just been sentenced, for suspicion of harassment, to a two-month firm ban on practice following a disciplinary hearing by the council of the order of lawyers from Paris.
According to a source close to the case, Emmanuel Pierrat was found guilty of breaches of the essential principles of the profession and sentenced to a nine-month sentence of temporary ban on exercise, seven of which were suspended. He also does not have the right to stand for ordinal elections for ten years, according to the same source. Emmanuel Pierrat, who appeared during a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday June 28, did not comment on this decision.
The president of the lawyers of Paris, Me Julie Couturier, who had requested 24 months of prohibition to practice including 18 closes, “will appeal this decision”, according to the close source. The appeal is suspensive and Me Pierrat may therefore continue to practice pending a final decision.
The order had opened this disciplinary procedure at the beginning of November 2021 for suspicions of “failures” from Me Pierrat to “all the essential principles of the profession” but also for a “managerial style” can “appear as harassment”. In a long right of reply to FreedMe Pierrat had indicated “contest with the greatest firmness the accusations made”.
The lawyer, also a novelist, essayist and art collector, has defended several personalities from the world of culture, including the writers Gabriel Matzneff, accused of pedocrime, and Edouard Louis or the visual artist Claude Lévêque, suspected of rape of minors. He also defended the ex-ecologist Denis Baupin, accused of sexual violence.
According to a survey conducted in 2018 by the Defender of Rights, 72% of women and 47% of men lawyers report having witnessed discrimination against their colleagues.
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