Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with Antoine Parry
This week on LegalTea, our guest was Antoine Parry. After an inspirational Erasmus year spent in Belgium, Antoine developed a passion for EU law which led to him taking up an internship and then landing a full-time job at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Based in Luxembourg, the CJEU is made up of the European Court of Justice and the General Court. For many studying the law in the UK, EU law can be hard to love. With most of the learning set against a background in Common Law, the complexities of different legal orders and principles, and how they interact at different levels, can be difficult to grasp. However, if you can delve deeper and expand your studies beyond the generic core module, you gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the values underpinning these complicated frameworks. Don’t be too quick to write off EU law as too boring or too difficult just because the compulsory module at university is pretty dull.
Antoine’s work at the CJEU is based in the chambers of one of the Advocate Generals. Advocate Generals produce written opinions to help judges reach final rulings on cases. As a Legal Assistant, it is Antoine’s role to help draft and linguistically revise these opinions. Working both independently and in a team, this kind of role involves a lot of legal research and detailed readings and revisions of written judgements across a wide variety of areas. The basic legal skills you pick up at university are absolutely key to success and if you’re someone who prefers the more academic side of the law, a job like this could be for you. Whereas working in a niche area of corporate law doesn’t require much awareness of wider policy arguments or important principles, working at the CJEU will require a more generalist approach and awareness and passion for a broad range of areas.
As the court of an institution covering 27 Member States, the CJEU attracts lots of different people from lots of different legal backgrounds. Therefore, it’s essential that you are able to enjoy working in a multicultural team and it would help if you already have some experience of such an environment. Although it might seem daunting, this diversity is one of the best things about working in EU law. While you may expect all the different outlooks and perspectives to create a clash when it comes to working in a team, in practice it fosters imagination, which really opens up the dialogue to find creative solutions to solve issues. It also creates a welcoming team dynamic where you’re more likely to be treated as an equal coming in than in a corporate firm. If you have an open-minded approach and think you would enjoy a lively workplace, meeting and working with lots of different people from different places, EU law could be a great fit for you.
So, you like the sound of the academic, generalist approach and the idea of working in a multicultural environment and you’re ready to submit your application to the CJEU. Not so fast: before you submit an application, there are a couple of major requirements to consider. Firstly, you need to be eligible. If you are not an EU citizen, you may be out of luck, as this is a requirement to work for the EU civil service. Since the Brexit transition period ended, this now includes UK citizens, unless they have dual nationality with an EU member-state. Of course, the EU-UK relationship will continue to develop, so keep your eye on eligibility requirements.
The second potential obstacle is French, the main language of the CJEU. Although Advocate Generals have the option to work in different languages within their teams, in general judgements are written in French and you’re going to need a firm grasp of the language. You will hear a diversity of languages in the court and the CJEU offers language classes to employees to foster inclusion and diversity, but French is a must coming in. If you want to go down this career route but your French is not good (or non-existent), take advantage of any language opportunities your university might offer and be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort into improving your language skills.
Working somewhere like the CJEU can be incredibly rewarding and eye-opening. You’ll be at the heart of an institution which spans most of a continent and whose rulings impact the lives of millions of European citizens. With competition from people in 27 Member States, landing a job here is highly competitive, but the rewards for your efforts are huge. Make sure to go out of your way to maximize your opportunities and to be very proactive while at university to put yourself in the best position possible, and don’t forget these three takeaways:
Refine basic skills and embrace the academic. Working for an Advocate General at the CJEU requires a lot of legal research and detailed readings and revisions of judgements. It’s essential to enjoy the academic side of the law and work to expand your knowledge of many different areas.
Have an open-mind. The CJEU is a diverse, multi-cultural environment. You need to be able to work with different people from different backgrounds and to value different perspectives on the law.
Learn French. If you’re not already a confident French-speaker, get to work straightaway. The CJEU’s working language is French and a strong proficiency is a must for landing a role.
