Dr. Alexander Mittmann

That young man was me today, 30 January 2023, exactly 20 years ago. On 30 January 2003, I was sworn in as a French lawyer (avocat) before the First Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal (Première Chambre de la Cour d’appel de Paris), which has its seat in the Palace of Justice on the Île de la Cité, in the heart of Paris.

The oath formula was: “Je jure, comme avocat, d’;exercer mes fonctions avec dignité, conscience, indépendance, probité et humanité“. This can be translated as follows: I swear that as a lawyer I will perform my duties with dignity, conscience, independence, probity and humanity. I have always endeavoured, and I believe successfully, to act up to my oath.

At the swearing-in ceremony, I wore a historical lawyer’s robe, which differs in some respects from the one I wear when practising my profession. The latter consists of the black robe with wide sleeves and a pleated cravat (rabat blanc plissé) as well as a ribbon over the left shoulder, the so-called épitoge. For the swearing-in ceremony, a white bow tie is added and the ribbon is trimmed with ermine fur at its ends (épitoge herminée).

However, my professional costume as a Parisian lawyer differs from that of other French lawyers. The latter also wear the fur trim on the ribbon when practising their profession. According to an unverified legend, Parisian lawyers wear mourning for the death of a colleague who suffered the death penalty with his client. A more likely explanation is that the fur trimming was a deference to the king, which was dispensed with when there was no longer a king.

After being sworn in, I initially worked exclusively as a French lawyer for two years. At the beginning of 2005, I settled in Hamburg and was also admitted as a German lawyer. However, I still like to appear before French courts.