In 2008, the English Law Society issued a leaflet entitled “England and Wales, jurisdiction of choice” to promote the choice of English law and the choice of England as a jurisdictional forum to foreign corporate managers. In passing, the leaflet was openly critical of the quality of the civil law.
A grouping of German law professionals (attorneys, magistrates, notaries ) and the Federal Minister of Justice, assembled as an alliance in furtherance of German law (“Bündnis für das deutsche Recht ”) and responded in 2009 with a bilingual, German-English informational brochure promoting the advantages of German law. 15,000 copies of the leaflet entitled “Law made in Germany” (LMG) were printed and enjoyed some success, particularly in business circles. The reason advanced for this was that the key legal concepts of the German legal system were explained in a manner accessible to non-lawyers from the standpoint of the economic efficiency of the law. The logistics of the publication were supported by the IRZ Foundation, a partner of the Fondation pour le droit continental.
The Fondation reached out to the Alliance for German Law with a view toward issuing a joint brochure and this proposed collaboration has been wholeheartedly welcomed by the German legal professions.
The objective
Promote the advantages of civil law by means of an international communication initiative, initially in partnership with the German counterpart organizations, and then at a later time, with any other civil law country that may be interested.
Ensure a wide dissemination of the brochure to various media, specifically on the occasion of the various events organized at both national level and the international level by the legal professions that are partners in this project and by the supporting foundations.
The means
Its form will be a monograph of around twenty pages. It lays out a simple but specific argument for readers who are legal professionals and who are responsible for presenting the advantages of selecting civil law to decision-makers who are not legal professionals.
The drafting of this brochure is being carried out by a French-German work group. It will then be adopted by the group of partners from the Fondation pour le droit continental and from the Alliance for German Law.
The prospects
Going forward, this communication tool could be adopted by numerous countries and translated into several languages. It could thus make an important contribution in raising the awareness of political, economic and administrative decision-makers that there is a meaningful choice between the various legal systems.
Composition of the working group
French delegation :
– Mr. Jean-Marc Baïssus, General Manager, FDC
– Mr. Pierre Becqué, CSN
– Mr. Jean-François Bohnert, PRA Dijon
– Mr. Louis-Bernard Buchman, Attorney, CNB
– Mr. Michel Grimaldi, professor, President of the Scientific Council, FDC
– Mr. Louis Vogel, President of theUniversity Paris II Panthéon-Assas
German delegation :
– Mr. Jan Eickelberg, DNV
– Mr. Axel C. Filges, President, BRAK
– Mr. Till Franzmann, DNV,
– Mr. Friedrich Graf von Westphalen, DAV
– Mr. Lothar Jünemann, DRB,
– Mrs Jenny Kaiser, BNK
– Mrs Mirja Nieke responsable RI, BRAK
– Mr. Philipp Iza Schilling, DRB
– Mr. Timm Starke, BNK
– Mrs. Ursula Sticker, responsable RI DAV
Version imprimable
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“Civil Law” brochure
