He was elected on June 22. The president of the order of lawyers of the bar of Bourges, Me Dominique Lacroix, took office on January 1st.
I was born on November 20, 1961, in Issoudun. My parents settled in Bourges in 1965. After my oath, on December 16, 1985, I was registered with the bar of Tours, then of Poitiers and finally of Bourges in 1992. I held positions on the board of from 2010 to 2016, then from 2018 to the end of 2021.
MP for Cher Nadia Essayan filed a complaint after being threatened with death
As chairman, you will represent the lawyers of Cher. How do you approach this mission?
My predecessor had a lot to do and there is still work to do. Internally, the chairman must be a reference and ensure the consistency of the bar, by providing support and advice to colleagues, by seeking conciliation. He is the prosecuting authority in disciplinary matters. Outside, it is the spokesperson for lawyers and the interlocutor of players in the legal world and the authorities, but also of litigants in the event of a dispute.
The last few years have been marked by Covid-19 and the lawyers’ strike against pension reform. How is the profession doing?
We suffered from the Covid, like everyone else. The bar has shown solidarity and the bar association council has been vigilant about the situation of the firms. Some have applied for state-guaranteed loans, but none have disappeared in the Cher. During the crisis, we carried out our missions with our clients, in our offices and in remand centers and detention centres.
What are the major projects for your mandate?
I have two concrete concerns. First the return to a normal functioning of justice. That is to say to be able to plead before all jurisdictions and not just file cases. Then, the Bourges courthouse will undergo work, by March 2022. My concern is maintaining accessibility to court officers. The trend is closed doors with badges.
How do you view the mobilization of magistrates and clerks who denounce the “unworthy” conditions in which they work?
In a petition, 3,000 magistrates make the same observation. They are right to denounce, despite their obligation of reserve. Instead of recruiting and training clerks, we recruit temporary workers who are separated after a year. Computer hardware is unreliable. Justice actors face an avalanche of new texts, often written in haste. The lawyers were already denouncing it, the magistrates are getting into it. The world of justice unites.
110 magistrates, lawyers and registry officials from Cher demonstrated on the steps of the Bourges courthouse
What action levers could help reverse the trend?
The union of red dresses and black dresses (the magistrates of the court of appeal wear red robes, those of the correctional courts and the auxiliaries of justice wear black robes, Editor’s note). If we only whisper that things are wrong, we are not audible. We have to give ourselves the means to function.
The Estates General of Justice opened on October 18, 2021, and ends in February. What do you expect?
I fear that we will put back on the table subjects to which we have already said no several times already, such as the closure of the Bourges Court of Appeal. With the health crisis, we have seen that the smallest structures, like ours, have been effective. I regret that the Presidents of the Bar were not heard during these Estates General. We had two weeks to draft motions. Maybe someone will read them.
What Cher professionals expect from the Estates General of Justice
Marion Berard
marion.berard@centrefrance.com
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