Multi-professional holding: A new way of connecting liberal profession in the French legal system

Abstract

In recent decades, significant changes occur in the exercise of the liberal professions. In particular, the French legislator made a big step forward, after almost fifty years of searching for the optimal solution, anticipating the holding of the liberal professions that establishes the principle of multi-professional connections on the basis of equity investments. The companies for the financial participation of the liberal professions can have a share in the capital assets of companies for performing the liberal professions as well as in business entities of General Corporate Law, and which have as their subject the performance of two or more professions including: attorney-at-law, notaries, bailiffs, court appraisers, accountants, auditors and advisers for industrial property. In other words, this is to allow the establishment of a holding company whose branches conduct their regulated profession in these domains. The aim was to create a network of companies from different professions in law, accounting and industrial property, whose connective tissue is the capital, and thereby strengthen their global competitive ability in domestic and foreign markets services. Also the possibility is prescribed that the companies for financial participation take part in each group of foreign law which has as its subject in performance of one or more of the mentioned professions, in order to create international, primarily European network of companies for performing liberal professions. Multi-professional holding has certain specific characteristics in relation to the holding of general law, among which are of particular importance two protective measures: more than half of the capital and voting rights of the holding company should hold the professionals who exercise their profession in the branches; the management board shall be elected among the members who perform their professions in the branches. Holding of the liberal professions has its own potential as well as limiting factors. For now it is provided only in the field of law, accounting and industrial property. It is not a legal framework that provides multi-professionalism at work, but only so-called Capital plural-professionalism. The topic of multi-professional holding of liberal professions is of special importance for Serbia. First of all, points to one example of implementation of EU law (here specifically on the Services Directive from year 2006) which testifies that within the national legal order seeks the most appropriate means of transposition. Also, given the recently caused tension in our country between the two liberal professions in law, attorney-at-law and notaries, may help to understand that the culture of multi-professionalism is built first in mentality, and only then in the legislation.