Wilkie Farr partner enters race for seat on Paris Bar

Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner Dominique Mondolini is running in the Paris Bar’s first election next week seeking to capture the vote of international firms vexed by recent tensions with the Bar.

Traditionally the Paris Bar has nominated just one lawyer for vacant seats on its council but the lack of an officially endorsed candidate has inspired the Bar’s first democratic election.

A recent letter to a French newsletter by former Bar president Paul-Albert Iweins provoked fury among international firms when Iweins revealed that he had discussed favouring French firms with French president Jacques Chirac.

Iweins has since apologised, saying that his views were misinterpreted, but Mondolini will expect to take advantage of international firms’ disquiet at the Bar’s isolationist attitude. International firms hold just three seats on the 36-member council.

There are eight candidates running for the vacant seat including high-profile criminal lawyer Dominique Pricaud and influential sole practitioner Bruno Boccara.