CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre enters into partnership with the PSL Dauphine Legal Clinic, an innovative programme of praticl training for legal advisers

Students at Paris-Dauphine and PSL will benefit from the experience and support of lawyers from a prestigious law firm.

Paris, 27 February 2017 - Law firm CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre today announced its partnership with the Paris-Dauphine University and Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), in connection with an educational programme run by the PSL-Dauphine Legal Clinic that aims to support PSL and Paris-Dauphine University law students in dealing with real cases.

In connection with this partnership, CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre lawyers advise and supervise the work of students who provide legal support to entrepreneurs selected by the PSL Pépite, D-Start or D-Incubator programmes. In practice, the programme puts together teams comprising three students from the third year of the undergraduate Law degree to the second year of the Masters' Law degree, to provide legal support for entrepreneurial projects under the supervision of a lawyer from CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre. Almost 30 start-ups are involved. Specifically, this process involves:

• a voluntary commitment in the form of a skills-based sponsorship from lawyers at CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre to three hours per project during the academic year;
• assistance in identifying legal and tax problems for the selected projects (setting up companies, protecting the concept, shareholders' agreements, general sales conditions, employment law, etc.);
• discussions with students about their work, and recommendations in collaboration with Thibaut Massart, associate professor of law and director of the Legal Clinic.

"This original process consisting in supporting students in their work around the start-ups they have created themselves has captivated us. It is similar to our commitment to the education of young associates and the many trainees we take on every year. It fits completely, moreover, with the DNA of our law firm's expertise, which we continually put at the service of entrepreneurs, whose projects we advise and defend at various stages of maturity", says Pierre-Sébastien Thill, Chairman of the Management Board and Florence Jouffroy, Marketing and Communications Director at CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre.

"The partnership with a law firm as prestigious as CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre is of considerable benefit to the Legal Clinic that I manage. The management of the law firm is strongly motivated by this project and some thirty lawyers have contributed to this unusual and innovative exercise. Student entrepreneurs ask for legal advice especially and the law students gain confidence by being able to give advice under the supervision of an experienced lawyer. The students learn a lot from discussions with the lawyers and the latter are excited by the energy and seriousness of the students" concludes Thibaut Massart.