Your English speaking lawyer in Montpellier
Living in France is quite special, from all points of view….
British are quite regularly getting desperate about French bureaucracy, red tape, food, the law, television, the French….
From my Dutch point of view, you'll never get used to it all, but it is worthwhile if you love this country's advantages!
As far as red tape, French bureaucracy and the complexity of the legal system is concerned, I decided to consider the positive side of it, and become a specialist in here, to help foreigners like the British digest one the most difficult plates of this Mediterranean culture: its civil law system.
One year of Anglo-American Law at the City of London Polytechnics was enough to understand that you might have problems understanding this system.
When I started working for one of those very big law firms in Paris (Coopers and Lybrand) almost 25 years ago, I thought I'd spend the rest of my life practicing International Business Law between the Netherlands, the UK and France.
But the sound of the crickets and the warmth of the Southern sun was to tempting, especially after a shortcut of two years in Luxembourg, to serve the honours of my home country in the legal service of the European Parliament (beautiful country, but about as much rain as in the Scottish Highlands!)
There was not enough international business in the south when I decided to move, but the French administration, red tape and bureaucracy remain present wherever you go. So I took the time to change specializations, and become a public law specialist.
Let me try to explain how important this decision was:
law is a complex matter today..
Like medical doctors, barristers, solicitors, advocates and lawyers need to be specialists in order to guarantee a good performance: a general practice can be of use to orientate, but a specialist in his particular field is there to resolve your specific problem. I will refer you to a good specialist for a "Franco-French` divorce, but questions concerning a foreigner's inheritance in France are welcome. This is just an example, consult me if you have a doubt whether I can be of help or not.
To give you a global idea, my predominant legal activities concern public/administrative law: real estate and affiliate litigation (neighbours!), town planning, building and constructions, but also medical liability, litigation with hospitals or local government and French administrations, public services, civil rights, environment, discrimination, the European Convention of Human Rights….
And I keep up with business law, going from contracts and company law to importation/exportation (and European Law of course) to the French and European public markets. Finally, as said, all kinds of particular questions concerning the rights of foreigners in France
A current practice of English, Dutch and German favours my intervention in international litigation and mediation.
Questions?
Petra CRAMER
10 rue Henri Guinier
34000 MONTPELLIER
crameravocats@ymail.com
tel: 09 81 61 00 88 or 06 50 92 92 95
