In 2024, the National Bar Council lists more than 76,000 lawyers in France. These figures are encouraging but must be compared with the reality on the ground. The majority of legal professionals are thus concentrated in Ile-de-France. Elsewhere, on the contrary, legal deserts are being created, for example in the Meuse or Mayotte. The consequence is an increase in the risk of a multiplication of legal breaches, all the higher since the “legal reflex” is not integrated by most French people, victims of economic barriers and their profound lack of knowledge of the legal profession.
Added to this are the obstacles more directly linked to the organisation of the French judicial system, with, in 2020, only 11 judges per 1,000 inhabitants in 2020 and 104 lawyers per inhabitant, well below the European average of 172. Not to mention the economic realities faced by legal professionals: in addition to the considerable cost of a notarial study, there is competition and the difficulties of building up a clientele, which pushes them to favour areas with high population density.
