Criminal business litigation, a field at the intersection of criminal law (a domain typically handled by major media and business law firms) and business law (the specialty of corporatelaw firms), demands a high degree of expertise from its practitioners.
With over ten years of experience in business litigation and trained in criminal defence work, Julie Manissier, founder of the MANISSIER AVOCAT law firm based in Paris, defends French and foreign entrepreneurs, companies and groups (and their directors) in criminal proceedings in which they may be involved (as defendants, civilly liable, or victims) in the course of their development.
MANISSIER AVOCAT assists its clients in French and in English, and appears before all French police courts (“Tribunaux de police”) and criminal courts (“Tribunaux correctionnels”).
MANISSIER AVOCAT also appears before French Courts of Appeal.
Business criminal law in a nutshell:
Business criminal law covers the rules of law relating to criminal offences that may be committed in the course of business, as well as economic and environmental rules that may be subject to criminal sanctions and fall within the jurisdiction of the criminal courts.
The objective of this legislation is to address economic and financial crime within the business sector and corporate entities.
As a specialized area of law focused on business life, criminal business litigation often involves legal entities (companies and major groups) and their directors (individuals or companies), whether as perpetrators, civilly liable parties, or victims of an offense.
It governs a wide range of offenses, including theft, fraud, breach of trust, corruption, and bribery, as well as specific crimes within certain fields, such as corporate law (misappropriation of corporate assets, bankruptcy, etc.), consumer law (misleading advertising), and others.
It also covers violations of competition law (offence of fraudulent participation in the design, organisation or implementation of anti-competitive practices for individuals), public procurement law (favouritism), tax law (tax fraud), and stock market law (insider trading).
DEFENCE IN BUSINESS CRIMINAL CASES
The MANISSIER AVOCAT law firm - Paris 17 assists companies and their directors who are accused of criminal offences in the development and implementation of their defence strategy throughout the criminal proceedings.
MANISSIER AVOCAT assists its clients, both defendants and accused, at all stages of criminal proceedings (assistance in police custody/first appearance before the Examining Judge, assistance during the judicial investigation, assistance/representation before the Criminal Court) who are being prosecuted for common law offences (theft, fraud, breach of trust, corruption), for misuse of corporate assets, for bankruptcy and for offences under the Consumer Code and the Environmental Code.
The MANISSIER AVOCAT law firm assists its clients, implicated in criminal proceedings, at all stages (assistance in police custody/first appearance before the investigating magistrate, assistance in judicial investigations, assistance/representation before the criminal court), for common crimes (theft, fraud, breach of trust, corruption), misappropriation of company assets, bankruptcy, consumer and environmental offenses.
For individuals prosecuted for corruption and companies prosecuted for offences under the Environmental Code, Maître Julie MANISSIER, founder of MANISSIER AVOCAT, may assists her clients, whenever possible and appropriate, in negotiating public interest judicial agreements ("CJIP") with the prosecuting public prosecutor.
MANISSIER AVOCAT also acts in defence of companies and their managers, who are accused of contraventions committed in the course of their activities.
ASSISTANCE AND DEFENCE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIMINAL OFFENCES
MANISSIER AVOCAT assists companies and company directors who are victims of a crime and wish to obtain compensation for the loss they have suffered, at all stages of the criminal proceedings (filing a complaint/direct summons, application to join the criminal proceeding as a civil party, monitoring the judicial investigation, representation before the Criminal Court during the judgment hearing before the Criminal Court, recovery of the damages obtained).
FAQ
In criminal law, offenses are divided into three categories according to their seriousness and the severity of the penalties imposed: contraventions (minor offenses), délits (misdemeanours), and crimes (felonies).
A contravention is the least serious offense, a délit is the intermediate offense, and a crime is the most serious offense.
Contraventions are judged by the Police Court (“Tribunal de police”), while offences are judged by the Criminal Court (“Tribunal correctionnel”). Crimes are judged by a Cour d’assises.
The sanction for a contravention is a fine of up to €1,500 (€3,000 if it is repeated), but no imprisonment.
The penalty for a natural person who commits or is an accomplice to a délit consists of a heavy fine and up to 10 years of imprisonment (not counting the additional penalties provided for).
Natural persons who are perpetrators or accomplices in a “crime” shall face a heavy fine and imprisonment for a term ranging from 15 years to life (plus any additional penalties).
Legal entities that are perpetrators or accomplices in felonies or misdemeanours mainly face fines.
A fine is a sum of money that any person may be convicted to pay when they have committed or been an accomplice to a criminal offence, whether it is a “contravention”, a “délit” or a “crime”.
It is therefore a monetary penalty ordered by a criminal court against an individual or company found guilty of a contravention, misdemeanour, or felony at the end of a trial.
The amount of the fine can be negotiated with the public prosecutor as part of the plea-bargaining procedure (procedure sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité). However, the agreement reached must then be approved by a judge of the competent Criminal Court.
