The privileged amicable
It is in the 12th arrondissement of Paris that Maître Marie Dupin, lawyer who has chosen to deploy her skills as a priority in a field of action: family and personal law.
This young woman, who has been practicing her profession for nearly fifteen years, is thus an expert in handling cases of divorce, separation and dissolution of PACS.
And consequences that we guess: residence of the children, alimony, liquidation-sharing of the common or undivided patrimony constituted by the couple;
an operation that often turns out to be complex depending on the interests of each.... She also entrusts us with covering a number of files relating to the – very often delicate – problems of inheritance, and its faithful corollary: the question of inheritance in joint ownership .
In the best case,
as we know, notarial skills are sufficient.
But, as we also know, the distribution of an inheritance is often a catalyst for conflicts within a family.
And in this case, the use of a lawyer is highly recommended, even essential.
Maître Dupin then warns his clients: the resolution of an inheritance dispute is not an easy task, and can last for nearly five years.
And this because, mainly, of an obviousness: the courts are full.
This is why our lawyer favors the amicable process as far as possible.
“It's more and more in people's minds”, she tells us, and, like many of her colleagues, she chooses to promote the establishment of a direct dialogue with the lawyers of the opposing parties.
This sometimes requires having recourse to qualified mediators and/or court conciliators, until a memorandum of understanding with legal value is obtained.
Whether necessary or not, "it is sometimes better to follow the adage, adds our lawyer, and consider that a bad agreement is better than a good trial".
However, litigation is sometimes unavoidable and the battle it entails is often of rare ferocity.
It is then necessary to deal with the hereditary reserves, the possible disputes of a gift, the questioning of the cognitive capacities of the legatee at the time of the drafting of the will.
The lawyer is then at the crossroads of many matters and must collect various information: she gathers the testimonies of the
entourage, studies medical files, compares them, consults doctors, compares their opinions.
And is sometimes confronted with medical secrecy, which requires the use of expertise.
As we can see, such cases are sometimes similar to the barrel of the Danaïdes, and the role of a lawyer is to fill it, despite everything and at all costs.
Listening in the service of defense
The attitude of a lawyer must adapt to the cases he deals with, professionally and humanely.
For customers, the impact is primarily psychological.
Intra-family conflicts multiply and intensify, and, in the case of an inheritance, reinforce the pain caused by the loss of a loved one.
Maître Dupin's office, by his admission, therefore sometimes looks like a psychotherapist's office.
At least, during the first meetings with its customers.
And although she takes care – it is not her role – not to play the bazaar psychologist, listening is for her one of the fundamental qualities of a lawyer, and one of the main pillars on which rests the way she practices her profession.
Having worked closely with a person working in the social field during her childhood, she was very quickly made aware of the issue of family dramas.
This quality gives the exercise of his profession a singularity that benefits clients who are often in a state of moral distress.
The lawyer then becomes the attentive confidante of their anger, their exasperation and their sadness. Listening, essential therefore, for human and professional reasons.
Because, in these emotional speeches, Maître Dupin's practiced ear manages to identify the issues, understand the ins and outs of a case, and – this is his goal and his role – define the problems.
She then acts as a guide and sets benchmarks for her clients in the dizzying legal maze Listening to rationalize emotion,
Continuing education
As we know, the law is a field in perpetual evolution.
From case law to reform, the knowledge acquired yesterday must be questioned and, if necessary, updated.
For a lawyer, university training must therefore continue and be strengthened throughout his career.
This is a task that Master Dupin has been carrying out carefully since obtaining his diploma.
Two major reasons for this.
On the one hand, she explains, to respond to a need for intellectual stimulation.
On the other hand, the interpretation of the laws makes it possible to consolidate its arguments and promotes the foundation of an effective strategy.
Here too, humanity and professionalism, two strengths which are mutually reinforcing for her.