Pierre Hoffman has been a partner at Hoffman for more than 18 years. He assists his clients in preventing and defending their intellectual property, competition, and distribution rights, as well as in digital and personal data.
He is now running for the 2024 Bâtonnat and Vice-Bâtonnat with Vanessa Bousardo, whose elections will be held on June 27 and 29. He unveils their program and exposes his vision of his profession, exclusively for LuxusPlus.
LuxusPlus : What do you find most rewarding about being a lawyer?
Pierre Hoffman : I would simply say be useful by helping others. To realize that a negotiation or a pleading can change the course of things for a person or a company is the most rewarding thing in my eyes. But being a lawyer is a lifelong commitment to others, and often what makes it so noble and difficult is a fight against oneself.
LP : How do you think the legal profession has evolved over the last few years, and how has it affected your practice?
P.H : Our profession has changed in the image of our society with the advent of digital technology. Traditional litigation has declined with a “diversification,” and the culture is no longer that of a fight between two parties with a judge who will arbitrate but rather that of compromise and the search for an agreement with mediation. The lawyer will eventually become more and more of an arbitrator and conciliator. Finally, the dimension of advice has increased for clients who are more and more connected.
LP : How can lawyers help companies manage their image, especially when consumers are increasingly sensitive to ethics and transparency?
P.H : Lawyers have become key companies’ CSR policy players. The difficulties of compliance for companies are clearly within the competence of lawyers. In terms of RGPD, the lawyer can be a Data Protection Officer. The lawyer can also establish internal investigations at the request of companies. He thus becomes the privileged interlocutor in matters of ethics and transparency.
LP : How do you see the legal profession’s future in an increasingly connected and digitalized world?
P.H : The opportunities are enormous, and what is exciting is adapting to new practices. In the age of Artificial Intelligence, we have never needed so much advice. There will always be a need for strategies to be defined, and as far as intellectual property is concerned, the demands are daily.
LP : You are a candidate for the Paris Bar Association, what reforms would you like to implement if you were elected as the head of the Bar?
P.H : If we have the honor of being elected with Vanessa BOUSARDO, we will implement on the economic level
- A recurrent event of “Meetings of the Bar” (Business dating, which specialties could decline) intended to allow the bringing together of colleagues (presentation of clients, buying/selling one’s firm…) and with the directors and legal managers of companies.
- The setting up of specific events intended to develop interprofessional meetings with other legal actors (notaries, court administrators, judicial commissioners, chartered accountants, etc.) according to the specialties.
- We will reform the bringing of business, whether it is bringing business between colleagues or with a third party, allowing to give a framework to existing practices.
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