François Coutard is a partner in the Employment Law team of CMS Francis Lefebvre Lyon.

Specialised in employment, social security and social welfare law, he mainly represents clients in non-contentious matters. He provides daily guidance to companies on legal aspects of individual and collective work relations, as well as the subject of social protection. Alongside the managers, he contributes to devising useful legal strategies for their projects. He has a wealth of experience notably within the field of employee representation and in the management of social relations: he assists many companies on a day to day basis in this area (notably regarding the reorganisation of activities and companies).
A lawyer for 25 years, François Coutard joined the law firm in 2000. With Guillaume Bossye, he co-manages a team of 11 lawyers dedicated to employment law, dealing with both litigation and non-contentious matters.
He was a lecturer at Paris Dauphine University and regularly runs training courses and conferences, especially for the Law School of the Rhône Alpes Region.

A former expert on the pilot committee "Social Dialogue" of the Young Managers' Centre, he wrote an article on negotiating business agreements in 1997, which was published in the Liaisons Sociales