Cour de cassation (French Court of Cassation)

Christophe Soulard
First President of the Court of Cassation

First President since: 18 July 2022
Member of the Court of Cassation since: 2012

Biography and career:

Education

- Master’s degree in Private Law (for careers in the judiciary), University of Paris I.

- Graduate of the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Public Service section)

- Degree in philosophy, University of Reims

- "Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache" from the Goethe Institute (Paris)

Career

2017–2022      President of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court

2015–2017      Senior Section Judge in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court

2012–2015      Judge in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court

2008–2012      First Vice-President of the District Court of Metz (President of First Civil Chamber and coordinator of civil matters)

1998–2008      Judge-referee at the Supreme Court (Criminal Chamber, economic and financial section)

1992–1998      Director of the European Centre for the Judiciary and Legal Professions

Set up and directed the Centre, which is located in Luxembourg and attached to the European Institute of Public Administration (Maastricht), and provides training in European Law for judges, government officials and lawyers from the Member States of the European Union and countries that are candidates for accession.

1989–1992      Law clerk (référendaire) in the office of the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, responsible for reading the judgments. The reader drafts observations on each draft judgment prepared by the judge rapporteurs, before it is submitted to the other members deciding the case. Such observations are seen only by the judge rapporteur, and relate to the internal coherence of the draft, the accuracy and relevance of the case law citations, and the syntax (all judgments are drafted in French, the Court’s working language)

1985–1989      Judge on the District Court of Metz, responsible for civil matters

1983–1985      Judicial traineeship

Mr Soulard has also served as associate professor at several universities.