Famous French Lawyers

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 1 
Maximilien de Robespierre
(French Lawyer and Statesman & One of the Most Influential Figures of the 'French Revolution')
Maximilien de Robespierre
4
Birthdate: May 6, 1758
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Arras, France
Died: July 28, 1794
Maximilien de Robespierre was a leading left-wing lawyer and leader during the Reign of Terror. He led the Committee of Public Safety and was part of the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club. He was accused of establishing a dictatorship and was guillotined in 1794, thus beginning the Thermidorian Reaction.
 2 
Pierre Laval
(Politician, Lawyer)
Pierre Laval
3
Birthdate: June 28, 1883
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Châteldon
Died: October 15, 1945

Pierre Laval was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for two non-consecutive terms. A lawyer by qualification, he defended trade unions and leftists against government prosecution. As a politician, he held many governmental positions. After the liberation of France in 1944, he was arrested by the new French government and executed following a flawed trial.

 3 
François Fillon
(Politician, Lawyer, Legislative assistant)
François Fillon
4
Birthdate: March 4, 1954
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Le Mans

Former prime minister of France and Republican party member François Fillon had also held many important portfolios, such as the ministries of education and ecology. An Anglophile, he is married to a Welsh-born wife. He was later found involved in a fake jobs scandal and was convicted of fund embezzlement.

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 4 
Carlo Buonaparte
(Corsican Lawyer Best Known as the Father of 'Napoleon Bonaparte' and Grandfather of 'Napoleon III')
Carlo Buonaparte
4
Birthdate: March 27, 1746
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Ajaccio, France
Died: February 24, 1785

Though he initially studied law, Carlo Buonaparte quit without a degree to take charge of his inheritance after his father’s death. He later served Pasquale Paoli. However, following the French conquest of Corsica, he completed his legal education. He is best remembered as the father of Napoleon Bonaparte.

 5 
Paul Reynaud
(French Lawyer and Politician)
Paul Reynaud
4
Birthdate: October 15, 1878
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Barcelonnette
Died: September 21, 1966
 6 
Louis Aliot
(Politician)
Louis Aliot
4
Birthdate: September 4, 1969
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Toulouse, France
 7 
René Coty
(President of France from 1954 to 1959)
René Coty
3
Birthdate: March 20, 1882
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Le Havre, France
Died: November 22, 1962

A qualified lawyer, René Coty had been the last president of the Fourth French Republic. His presidency was plagued by issues such as the Algerian question, and his threat to resign during the May 1958 crisis accelerated the election of Charles de Gaulle as the prime minister of France.

 8 
Camille Desmoulins
(French Politician and Journalist)
Camille Desmoulins
3
Birthdate: March 2, 1760
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Guise
Died: April 5, 1794
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
3
Birthdate: April 1, 1755
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Belley, France
Died: February 2, 1826
 10 
Léon Gambetta
(Former republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government)
Léon Gambetta
2
Birthdate: April 2, 1838
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Cahors, France
Died: December 31, 1882
 11 
Jules Ferry
(Politician, Diplomat, Lawyer, Journalist)
Jules Ferry
2
Birthdate: April 5, 1832
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Died: March 17, 1893

Once the prime minister of France, Jules Ferry was a Moderate Republican leader, who is remembered for his efforts in the French colonial expansion. He followed in his father’s footsteps to become a lawyer but gained fame as a political critic. He later became increasingly unpopular due to expenditures incurred in wars. 

 12 
Jacques Vergès
3
Birthdate: March 5, 1925
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Ubon Ratchathani
Died: August 15, 2013

Jacques Vergès was a French lawyer, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered for defending the FLN militants during the Algerian War. Nicknamed the Devil's Advocate, Vergès achieved notoriety and attracted widespread public attention for advocating political activism. In the 2010 French-German biographical film Carlos, Jacques Vergès was played by Nicolas Briançon. 

Isabelle Coutant-Peyre
2
Birthdate: 1952 AD
Birthplace: France
 14 
Arnaud Montebourg
(Politician, Lawyer)
Arnaud Montebourg
2
Birthdate: October 30, 1962
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Clamecy
 15 
Alexandre Millerand
(President of France (1920-1924))
Alexandre Millerand
2
Birthdate: February 10, 1859
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: April 6, 1943

A qualified lawyer, Alexandre Millerand had served as both the president and the prime minister of France. He had also held important portfolios, such as the ministries of war and commerce. He once attempted to increase presidential powers by revising the constitution. His published works include Le Socialisme réformiste.

 16 
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
(Former Prime Minister of France)
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
2
Birthdate: August 3, 1948
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Poitiers, France
 17 
Gisèle Halimi
2
Birthdate: July 27, 1927
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: La Goulette, Tunisia
Died: July 28, 2020
 18 
Frédéric Ozanam
(Literary Scholar, Lawyer, Journalist And Founder of Society of Saint Vincent de Paul)
Frédéric Ozanam
2
Birthdate: April 23, 1813
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Milan, Italy
Died: September 8, 1853

Frédéric Ozanam was a French lawyer, literary scholar, equal rights advocate, and journalist. He is credited with co-founding the Conference of Charity, which came to be known as the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. in 1997, Frédéric Ozanam was beatified at Notre Dame de Paris by Pope John Paul II and his feast day is observed on 9 September.

 19 
Ivo of Kermartin
2
Birthdate: October 17, 1253
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Duchy of Brittany
Died: May 19, 1303
 20 
Emmanuel Gaillard
2
Birthdate: January 1, 1952
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: France
 21 
Fernand de Brinon
(Lawyer and journalist who was one of the architects of French collaboration with the Nazis during World War II)
Fernand de Brinon
2
Birthdate: August 26, 1885
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Libourne, France
Died: April 15, 1947
 22 
Maurice Duverger
(Politician)
Maurice Duverger
2
Birthdate: June 5, 1917
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Angoulême, France
Died: December 16, 2014

Jurist and political scientist Maurice Duverger is best remembered for proposing the Duverger's law, related to the formation of a two-party system. He taught at the Sorbonne and had also been an MP, representing the Italian Communist Party first and then the Democratic Party of the Left

 23 
Nathalie Sarraute
(Writer, Lawyer)
Nathalie Sarraute
2
Birthdate: July 18, 1900
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Ivanovo, Russia
Died: October 19, 1999
 24 
Georges Couthon
(Politician)
Georges Couthon
2
Birthdate: December 22, 1755
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Orcet, France
Died: July 28, 1794
Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville
2
Birthdate: June 10, 1746
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Foreste, France
Died: May 7, 1795
Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
2
Birthdate: December 6, 1721
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: April 22, 1794
 27 
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin
(French Politician, Lawyer and One of the Leaders of the French Revolution of 1848)
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin
2
Birthdate: February 2, 1807
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: December 31, 1874

Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin was a French politician best remembered as the leader of the working-class men. He was one of the most important politicians whose deeds and speeches led to the French Revolution of 1848, which is considered one of the most prominent events in the history of France. A Paris Metro station and an avenue are named after him.

 28 
Patrick Devedjian
(Politician)
Patrick Devedjian
1
Birthdate: August 26, 1944
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Fontainebleau, France
Died: March 29, 2020
 29 
Felix Gouin
(Chair of the Provisional Government of the French Republic)
Felix Gouin
0
Birthdate: October 4, 1884
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Peypin, French Third Republic France
Died: October 25, 1977
 30 
Jeannette Bougrab
(Politician)
Jeannette Bougrab
1
Birthdate: August 26, 1973
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Châteauroux, France
 31 
Adolphe Crémieux
(Politician)
Adolphe Crémieux
1
Birthdate: April 30, 1796
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Nîmes, France
Died: February 10, 1880
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
1
Birthdate: May 31, 1753
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Limoges, France
Died: October 31, 1793
René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou
1
Birthdate: February 25, 1714
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Montpellier, France
Died: July 29, 1792
 34 
Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
(French Lawyer and Former Member of the National Convention)
Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
1
Birthdate: April 23, 1756
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: La Rochelle, France
Died: June 3, 1819

Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne was a French lawyer and politician of the Revolutionary period. An influential personality, Billaud-Varenne played an important role during the Reign of Terror and is regarded as a key architect of the Reign of Terror. One of the most important members of the Committee of Public Safety, Billaud-Varenne worked with influential figures like Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton.

 35 
Jules Cambon
(Diplomat)
Jules Cambon
1
Birthdate: April 5, 1845
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: September 19, 1935
Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas
1
Birthdate: 1544 AD
Birthplace: France
Died: July 28, 1590
 37 
Fernand Labori
(Attorney)
Fernand Labori
1
Birthdate: April 18, 1860
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Reims, France
Died: March 14, 1917
 38 
Théodore Reinach
(Archaeologist, Politician)
Théodore Reinach
0
Birthdate: July 3, 1860
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Died: October 28, 1928
 39 
François Gény
1
Birthdate: December 17, 1861
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Baccarat, France
Died: December 16, 1959
 40 
Pierre-Paul Royer-Collard
1
Birthdate: June 21, 1763
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Sompuis, France
Died: September 4, 1845
Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai
1
Birthdate: October 30, 1754
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Arleux, France
Died: December 26, 1838
 42 
André Cayatte
(Filmmaker)
André Cayatte
1
Birthdate: February 3, 1909
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Carcassonne, France
Died: February 6, 1989
Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès
1
Birthdate: October 18, 1753
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Montpellier, France
Died: March 8, 1824
 44 
Richard Malka
1
Birthdate: June 6, 1968
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Paris, France
 45 
François Hotman
1
Birthdate: August 23, 1524
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: February 12, 1590
 46 
Adrien Duport
(Politician)
Adrien Duport
1
Birthdate: February 6, 1759
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: July 6, 1798
 47 
Pierre Louis Prieur
1
Birthdate: August 1, 1756
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Sommesous, France
Died: May 31, 1827
 48 
Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert
(French Economist, Lawyer and Judge)
Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert
1
Birthdate: February 17, 1646
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Rouen, France
Died: October 10, 1714

Economist Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguillebert was born into a noble family of Normandy and received an elite education. He suggested several economic reforms during Louis XIV’s reign, paving the way for Physiocrats. He supported direct taxes and believed the prosperity of France depended on its agricultural capacity.

 49 
Gilles Ménage
1
Birthdate: August 15, 1613
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Angers, France
Died: July 23, 1692
 50 
Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet
1
Birthdate: July 14, 1736
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Reims, France
Died: June 27, 1794