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maître de l’affaire

English translation: lead counsel

11:44 Dec 21, 2019
French to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law (general)
French term or phrase: maître de l’affaire
Legal document to do with succession:

"En vertu de la loi, un avocat habilité à vous représenter est :
– dans le cadre des procédures de saisie immobilière, de partage et de licitation, ou s’il intervient au titre de l’aide juridictionnelle, ou s’il n’est pas maître de l’affaire chargé également d’assurer la plaidoirie : un avocat inscrit au barreau du tribunal de grande instance de XXX ;
– dans tous les autres cas : un avocat inscrit au barreau de l’un des tribunaux de grande instance dépendant de la cour d’appel de YYY"

In fact, doing a bit of searching, it transpires that the longer expression here, maître de l’affaire chargé également d’assurer la plaidoirie, probably comes as a package.

There's a Kudoz entry for "maître de l’affaire", https://www.proz.com/kudoz/french-to-english/business-commer... but the context is non-legal.
Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:47
English translation:lead counsel
Explanation:
Mpoma's text is setting forth the rules as to which lawyers are able to represent you in certain types of cases (saisie immobilière, partage, etc.) in the court in question. This text is about litigators who represent clients before the court, not attorneys who are employed by the court (i.e. not the "Court Case Manager" referenced by Adrian MM).

If a lawyer is not "lead counsel also in charge of oral argument" (in quotes because that's what "maître de l’affaire chargé également d’assurer la plaidoirie" means, but isn't quite how we'd say it in US or UK legalese), then she can only represent you -- Mpoma's text says -- if she is admitted to the bar of this particular tribunal de grande instance, which Mpoma has called XXX.

Otherwise, if she IS lead counsel in charge of the case (which is how we would say it in the US), then she can represent you as long as she's admitted to the bar of any tribunal de grande instance under the jurisdiction of Court of Appeal YYY.

Mpoma's text comes from a law that went into effect in 2016. Under that law, with certain exceptions, lawyers can practice before all tribunaux de grande instance (TGI) that fall under the appeals court of the lawyer's professional domicile. So, let's say, TGI's 1, 2 and 3, all of which are under Court of Appeal YYY. By way of analogy, this is like in the US where once the Supreme Court of a state admits you to practice as an attorney, you can represent clients in all the lower courts of that state.

The exceptions are exactly what Mpoma's text says:

"Depuis le 1er août 2016, les avocats peuvent postuler devant l’ensemble des tribunaux de grande instance du ressort de cour d’appel dans lequel ils ont établi leur résidence professionnelle et devant ladite cour d’appel, à l’exception des procédures de saisie immobilière, de partage et de licitation, des interventions au titre de l’aide juridictionnelle et des instances dans lesquelles l’avocat ne serait pas maître de l’affaire chargé également d’assurer la plaidoirie, pour lesquelles la postulation demeure du ressort du tribunal de grande instance."
https://consultation.avocat.fr/blog/estelle-fournier/article...


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Note added at 3 hrs (2019-12-21 15:20:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

PS: The term lead counsel is also used in the UK:

"Today, lead counsel for the Bank of England will sit down after delivering what is believed to be the longest speech in British legal history."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/25/simonbowers
Selected response from:

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 05:47
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3lead counsel
Eliza Hall
3(UK) Case Lead Manager
Adrian MM.
4 -1Middleman
Eyango NKongo Flore
Summary of reference entries provided
José Patrício

  

Answers


59 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
(UK) Case Lead Manager


Explanation:
The ProZ weblink doesn't work and succession I take to mean probate & inheritance, rather than succession to a business (in a corporate context: the advantage of perpetual succession.

Lead Counsel connotes that there is a Junior not necessarily younger) Counsel in litigation, esp. in the UK.

(civil etc.) case manager is a court officer in the US and is also ambiguous in the UK e.g. at a pre-trial case management conference.

Not too sure about a literal, albeit romantic translation as Master of the Affair.

Example sentence(s):
  • USA: The Traffic Division of the Anchorage Trial Court is accepting applications for a Court Case Manager.

    Reference: http://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/traduction/maître+de+...
Adrian MM.
Austria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 359

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AllegroTrans: This works adequately
1 hr
  -> Thanks. I had been tempted by Leader (normally a QC) vs. Junior, though too Anglo-centric and nowadays associated with an unfair fee-split.
disagree  Eliza Hall: Not a court officer in that sense. Maître de l'affaire chargé d'assurer la plaidoirie means the attorney in charge of the case.
1 hr
  -> Yes. Exactly. Not a court officer in the UK - where the asker is and 'attorney (at law vs. in fact) in charge of the case' doesn't work.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Middleman


Explanation:
Bearing in mind the context , it is obvious that the lawyer is going to be in charge of all the negotiations and deals . Hence he will play the role of a "middleman" .

Eyango NKongo Flore
Cameroon
Local time: 10:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  AllegroTrans: Np this person is not a middleman and not a deal-maker. You've misunderstood the context
7 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
lead counsel


Explanation:
Mpoma's text is setting forth the rules as to which lawyers are able to represent you in certain types of cases (saisie immobilière, partage, etc.) in the court in question. This text is about litigators who represent clients before the court, not attorneys who are employed by the court (i.e. not the "Court Case Manager" referenced by Adrian MM).

If a lawyer is not "lead counsel also in charge of oral argument" (in quotes because that's what "maître de l’affaire chargé également d’assurer la plaidoirie" means, but isn't quite how we'd say it in US or UK legalese), then she can only represent you -- Mpoma's text says -- if she is admitted to the bar of this particular tribunal de grande instance, which Mpoma has called XXX.

Otherwise, if she IS lead counsel in charge of the case (which is how we would say it in the US), then she can represent you as long as she's admitted to the bar of any tribunal de grande instance under the jurisdiction of Court of Appeal YYY.

Mpoma's text comes from a law that went into effect in 2016. Under that law, with certain exceptions, lawyers can practice before all tribunaux de grande instance (TGI) that fall under the appeals court of the lawyer's professional domicile. So, let's say, TGI's 1, 2 and 3, all of which are under Court of Appeal YYY. By way of analogy, this is like in the US where once the Supreme Court of a state admits you to practice as an attorney, you can represent clients in all the lower courts of that state.

The exceptions are exactly what Mpoma's text says:

"Depuis le 1er août 2016, les avocats peuvent postuler devant l’ensemble des tribunaux de grande instance du ressort de cour d’appel dans lequel ils ont établi leur résidence professionnelle et devant ladite cour d’appel, à l’exception des procédures de saisie immobilière, de partage et de licitation, des interventions au titre de l’aide juridictionnelle et des instances dans lesquelles l’avocat ne serait pas maître de l’affaire chargé également d’assurer la plaidoirie, pour lesquelles la postulation demeure du ressort du tribunal de grande instance."
https://consultation.avocat.fr/blog/estelle-fournier/article...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2019-12-21 15:20:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

PS: The term lead counsel is also used in the UK:

"Today, lead counsel for the Bank of England will sit down after delivering what is believed to be the longest speech in British legal history."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/25/simonbowers

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 05:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 145
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Timothy Rake
1 hr
  -> Thanks.
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: quite simply
5 hrs
  -> Thanks.
agree  AllegroTrans
7 hrs
  -> Thanks.
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Reference comments


1 hr peer agreement (net): -3
Reference

Reference information:
Le maître de l’affaire a été défini par le Conseil d’État[2] comme la personne qui, cumulativement, a « l’entier pouvoir de gestion économique et financière de l’entreprise, peut disposer sans contrôle des fonds sociaux et n’est ainsi pas placée dans la même situation qu’un autre associé ou dirigeant ». Le maître de l’affaire est celui qui exerce « seul la maîtrise administrative, financière et commerciale de cette société »[3] - https://www.filor-avocats.com/actualites/droit-fiscal/notion...

José Patrício
Portugal
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 1

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
disagree  mchd: cela ne correspond en rien au contexte !!
10 mins
disagree  AllegroTrans: Nothing to do with asker's context so not even a useful reference
1 hr
disagree  Yvonne Gallagher: not the right context
7 hrs
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