Joël Gautier“Freedom is a precious thing”

Joël Gautier

Setting up on my own eight months after being sworn in was a leap into the unknown, but, looking back, perhaps the best decision I have made in my career. In my first year, I spent a great deal of time on placements and gradually gained experience, which gave me a clear idea of how I wanted to approach the profession. When I had to choose between moving to another associate position and setting up independently, I had no hesitation. I discussed it with my father at the time, and he told me to trust myself.

Independence has a cost in terms of overheads and the potential risk of insecurity, but it offers so many possibilities that, in the end, the disadvantages amount to little: freedom is precious and allows us to broaden the realm of possibilities.

Joël Gautier

In theory, yes! When a trial considers both incriminating and exculpatory evidence, it can achieve what Paul Ricœur meant when he said justice should render ‘to each their due’. Resolving a dispute while respecting the adversarial principle is essential to the rule of law, and is a source of honour for those who administer justice. In practice, unfortunately, centrifugal forces lead us away from that principle. The pace of the media, and indeed of our lives, is governed by the tyranny of immediacy and a deep-seated tendency to oversimplify, without allowing everyone to put forward an opposing perspective. Yet for a judicial decision to be meaningful, all parties need to understand it, and their perspectives must be taken into account. More broadly, critical thinking is sometimes lacking in our society, and younger generations need to master the complex thinking so dear to the late Edgar Morin.

Joël Gautier

We need to remember where we came from before answering: lawyers were almost absent, reduced to the role of a ‘sandwich-board carrier’, present for just 30 minutes at the very beginning of police custody before the reform. Now lawyers assist their clients and have a defined period in which to reach the location before questioning can begin. It is progress, but access to important elements of the file, and even to the precise accusations, still needs improving. In my view, the reform is a welcome step forward for the fundamental rights of those facing prosecution, but it is also an invitation to change attitudes over time. Police investigations will increasingly become a matter of gathering evidence and assessing its quality before turning to interpretations and confessions. The lawyer’s presence should not be seen as a challenge to police work but as an invitation to keep improving the quality of investigations by hearing all sides in an adversarial process.

Joël Gautier

The general problem is constant reform and the restlessness with which legislators want to change everything without identifying why it is useful or taking time to analyse it. This legal instability mirrors the political instability in our country. Passing a new law in response to every newsworthy incident does not solve a problem; it communicates a message, which in today’s political discourse is sometimes the be-all and end-all. ‘Clarification’ is in reality an often unnecessary complication, as with the ordinance of 19 November. We would be better off with fewer laws that we make a greater effort to enforce!

Joël Gautier

What I discovered in the military world, through some wonderful encounters, was above all the great open-mindedness of senior officers, which made me want to explore it further. I had an intellectual curiosity about defence, also connected to my family history: a great-grandfather who was a colonel, whom I never met. What I discovered along my journey, starting at the IHEDN and then as an elected member of the Cercle’s board, was a way of governing. After that essential period of discussion and listening, you must make a decision in order to move forward… even at the risk of being wrong!

I believe in this kind of open, vertical authority, which listens first, and I think the military has much to teach civilians about command.

It also has much to teach us about the moral strengths familiar to military personnel, which we must learn to develop collectively: that is the key to the success of many projects!

Joël Gautier

Used well, artificial intelligence saves a tremendous amount of time on many tasks that used to take lawyers a great deal of effort. It is an excellent tool if properly managed, but it needs safeguards. Lawyers remain responsible for checking the legal consistency of their work, which cannot be entrusted entirely to AI. Lawyers must also have clear legal reasoning and be capable of assessing the avenues AI proposes. To my mind it is an enabler, but phrase questions differently and you always get different answers: it is therefore the legal professional who must be able to set the direction. As AI progresses, what will remain is the heart of our profession: the relationship with the client. In an increasingly conflictual society, the human element will be decisive. Alongside their ability to propose a clear legal path, lawyers will above all need training in that relationship. An older lawyer once told me: ‘The most important thing is to keep a firm hold on the client relationship’, and that is still true!

Joël Gautier

Yes. Without going into the still-pending proceedings, it was an interesting decision that identified several shortcomings but ultimately amounted to a recognition of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee’s powerlessness. Given the deadline, it could do little other than point out those failings, without actually changing the team selection. Even though the responsiveness of sports tribunals in this case deserves recognition, the slowness of the judicial process is clearly an important factor to assess in general, and particularly in competitive sport. Nevertheless, even lengthy litigation can shift the boundaries and thereby limit some of the injustices athletes may suffer.

Joël Gautier

The most interesting thing about chess is what it can contribute to practical life once you understand its essence. It can foster a particular mindset, for example the need to analyse before forming a plan, to think in terms of prophylaxis, and so on. Every situation creates a particular balance of power that must be understood, just as a player analyses a position by trying to identify its imbalances before devising a plan. In chess, the equation depends on our analytical abilities and what the opponent will play, within a defined balance of power: both opponents start with the same number of pieces. In judicial life, predictability is constantly challenged by the uncertainties of proceedings and by our relationships with clients. We must know how to operate in an uncertain world and choose accordingly. In principle, chess is always a useful decision-making aid because, in my view, the game encourages a sound mindset, but it is not enough: experience, human nature and maturity matter even more when making choices. If being good at chess were enough to make good decisions, every great chess player would succeed easily in everyday life — which is far from always being the case…