Patrick Maisonneuve (born 1 March 1955) is a French

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

. He began his legal practice in 1979, and is known for taking on widely reviled high-profile clients that other lawyers have shunned. In 2013 and 2014 '' GQ'' ranked him the sixth most powerful lawyer of France. He experienced a turning point in his career around 1990, when he joined the defense team in the COGEDIM affair (bogus invoices produced by an important building company) and the one of

Henri Emmanuelli Henri Emmanuelli (31 May 1945 – 21 March 2017) was a French politician. A member of the French Socialist Party, he was deputy for Landes from 1978 to 1981, from 1986 to 1997, and from 2000 to 2017. Early life and career Emmanuelli was born ...

(in another affair of bogus invoices). Indeed, as a result, he gradually moved from cases of general criminal law to white collar criminality (without giving up the cases of murder, rape and terrorism entirely). He defended

Edmond Hervé Edmond Hervé (born 3 December 1942) is a French politician, a member of the Socialist Party and French senator from 2008 to 2014. He was the mayor of Rennes from 1977 to 2008, succeeding Henri Fréville. Biography Born in La Bouillie, Côte ...

in the ministers' trial of the Infected blood scandal in 1999, after years of investigations and procedure; Gilles Ménage (former chief of staff of

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

) in the trial (2005) of the Presidency's abusive wiretappings (1983–1986); and Sébastien de Montessus, former director of mines of

Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...

, sued by his own ex-boss,

Anne Lauvergeon Anne Lauvergeon (born 2 August 1959) is a French businesswoman who served as CEO of Areva from 2001 until 2011. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', she is known internationally as one of the most prominent defenders of nuclear power. Earl ...

, for alleged spying of her private life ( Sébastien de Montessus has been acquitted). One of his most unpopular clients was Fabrice Burgaud, made famous by the

Outreau affair The Outreau case refers to a criminal case of pedophilia which took place between 1997 and 2000 in Outreau (a French commune) in northern France and a partial judicial error which led to provisional detentions between 2001 and 2004. Following aler ...

. He defended him in front of the (CSM, Higher Judicial Council), and sued two national newspapers as well as

Bertrand Tavernier Bertrand Tavernier (25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French director, screenwriter, actor and producer. Life and career Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, s ...

for libel. The newspapers and the movie director have been sentenced. In 2009, Maisonneuve defended the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

on charges of profiting illegally. He is defence lawyer for Yoo Som-na, the eldest daughter of

Yoo Byung-eun Yoo Byung-eun (Korean: 유병언; Hanja: 兪炳彥) was a South Korean businessman and inventor, who as a photographer was known under the art name Ahae. Yoo became the focus of Park Geun-hye’s administration shortly after the Sinking of MV Sew ...

and

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; née Lallouette, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been serving as President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the ...

, director of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

Regardless, Maisonneuve is on the plaintiffs' side in some important cases, especially the case of the against

Laboratoires Servier Servier Laboratories (French: Laboratoires Servier, often abbreviated to Servier) is an international pharmaceutical company governed by a non-profit foundation, with its headquarters in France (Suresnes). The consolidated turnover for the 2018 ...

(

Mediator Mediator may refer to: *A person who engages in mediation *Business mediator, a mediator in business * Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept * Mediator variable, in statistics Chemistry and biology *Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...

scandal) and the one of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

against

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...

. On 26 May 2014, Maisonneuve revealed during a press conference that the company , for which he is the lawyer, made bogus invoices as a result of the pressure exerted by the staff of

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

and by the UMP: instead of making bills for Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign, Bygmalion was requested to exaggerate or to invent works for the UMP's ordinary activities, because the electoral expenses exceeded the legal spending limit. Patrick Maisonneuve estimated the total amount of the fake invoices to "more than 10 million euros" and called the demand of the UMP for "financial blackmail". The next day, the chairman of the UMP,

Jean-François Copé Jean-François Copé (; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—inclu ...

announced his resignation. The criminal investigation accelerated during the following months. In the name of his clients, Patrick Maisonneuve also filed three complaints against ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'', who, in three different articles, had accused Bygmalion of profiting illegally (an accusation never endorsed by the investigative magistrates in charge of the case). After Nicolas Sarkozy was formally indicted in February 2016, Patrick Maisonneuve expressed his satisfaction and reiterated his position: The bogus invoices were all about the excessive expenses of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign.

References

External links

Official website, English version

TV-interview, 6 June 2012

TV-interview, 22 November 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maisonneuve, Patrick 1955 births Living people 20th-century French lawyers 21st-century French lawyers People from Aurillac

References

Further reading

External links