Master's Degree in Private Law - Civil and International Private Law course

If the diploma is to be considered as a tool offered to each student for his or her future life, I would say that if it is well prepared, the Master 2 in Civil Law and Private International Law will become an undeniable asset in the professional life of any lawyer. First of all, this year is a logical extension of the Master 1 in Private Law in that it goes into all the subjects of civil law but also the fundamentals of private international law. This course allows students to consolidate their knowledge, but above all, it offers a logic of reflection to students. It is important to understand that this year requires work and personal investment. However, on the one hand this reinforces a work habit and confers rigour; on the other hand, this year marks a timely transition between the university and the professional world. Secondly, this complete training offers many opportunities between the main competitive examinations or the choice of an academic career. This is reflected in the choice between writing a thesis or doing an internship. For me, writing a thesis was an extremely enriching experience from a legal and personal point of view. My preparation for the CRFPA is easier than some of my classmates thanks to the many points covered during my year of Master 2 but especially thanks to the habits and research methodologies that I have acquired. The diversity of the interventions (between lawyers and foreign professors) also confers a playful and open aspect in the discovery or the increase of your legal culture. This enriching perspective is also found in the presence of numerous oral exercises (mock pleadings, presentation of research, grand oral, etc.) and greatly diversifies the ways of practicing law. Finally, from my own experience, I have observed a special dedication from some professors during the whole year but also during the first confinement linked to the health crisis. The human and personalized dimension remains in my opinion the strong point of the teaching staff of the Master of Civil Law and Private International Law.

L’année de M2 Droit civil et droit international privé fut, pour moi, une année riche et stimulante. Riche d’abord par la variété des matières abordées, laquelle permet d’acquérir une culture juridique solide, aussi bien dans les matières fondamentales que dans des matières plus techniques. Riche aussi par la diversité des entraînements proposés : plaidoiries, « grand oral », écriture d’article, dissertations, mémoire, etc. Au-delà du plaisir de se confronter à des exercices nouveaux et parfois moins académiques, comme la plaidoirie, cela fut aussi une excellente initiation à de nouvelles méthodologies, et notamment à celle de la recherche en droit, en ce qui me concerne. L’année fut riche, enfin, de l’hétérogénéité des profils rencontrés parmi les professeurs, les conférenciers invités mais aussi parmi les étudiants, puisque ces derniers se destinaient à diverses carrières, de la magistrature au barreau, en passant par la recherche et même le notariat. Loin de proposer un enseignement passif et fastidieux, le Master 2 invite à l’autonomie intellectuelle. Une grande liberté nous a ainsi été laissée dans la préparation des thématiques abordées, avec des propositions de lecture variées. De même, nous avons été constamment invités, en cours, à proposer des réflexions personnelles en dialoguant avec nos professeurs et nos camarades. Quel exercice particulièrement stimulant que d’apprendre à penser par soi-même ! L’exigence intellectuelle de la formation trouve son pendant dans la grande bienveillance et l’humanité du corps professoral, qui a à cœur que chaque étudiant puisse donner le meilleur de lui-même. Je ne peux donc que recommander cette formation aux futurs étudiants et souhaiter à chacun d’y trouver le plaisir que j’y ai pris !  

Before joining the M2 Civil Law and Private International Law, I myself was not convinced of the intellectual added value of an extra year of law, pragmatically thinking that I had done all the subjects to prepare for the competitive exams I wanted to take. However, after careful consideration and discussion with practitioners and academics, I decided to complete my training at the Faculty of Law. This decision was a good one, as I feel that I have progressed as a lawyer much more than in my previous four years. Indeed, the course up to the M1 allows to acquire raw material, knowledge about law. It is also the way to learn legal reasoning. On the other hand, the M2 is the place for deepening one's knowledge. What to do with this accumulated knowledge? During this year, I learnt to take a step back from the law, to think more deeply about the meaning of reforms and the spirit of laws, but also to really dissertate, with a degree of understanding that I had not imagined before. Furthermore, the M2 was the opportunity to write a thesis, the highlight of my university course. This work was an opportunity to test and improve my legal research methods, but also to find new ones, and I have certainly grown from it. If there is one certainty, it is that I am a better lawyer than I was at the end of my M1, and that I have acquired weapons that will be invaluable for the preparation of my competitive examination. The M2, at least the one I had the honour of studying in, is the best the faculty has to offer, since it allows those who love the legal field deep down to discover another facet of law, to be intellectually stimulated and to have a privileged relationship with the teachers, since a limited number of students favours a closeness that is unfortunately not allowed in a lecture hall. Indeed, in addition to being all more competent than the others, the lecturers are all very benevolent, and are keen to discuss the law with their students. I regret however that the health situation has tainted this year by imposing a period of distanciel, hoping for better days for the following classes.

If my first four years of law school were very enriching, the year of M2 really allowed me to complete my construction as a lawyer. This year of M2 allowed me to acquire a certain height on my academic knowledge, allowing a pragmatic implementation of these. This practical application was made possible by the professors' way of working and the exercises proposed. For example, the choice to proceed with mock trials, which require work on a real court decision (or defence) and which also require real oral work; but also the choice of different transversal subjects, both written and oral, where it was no longer a question of simply reciting, but of having real reflection and a certain quality of writing or oratory, and methodological. Moreover, this year of M2 was an opportunity to do an internship of a sufficiently long duration to become aware of the field, to see law practitioners at work, to understand the need to step back from my knowledge, to apply it without compartmentalizing it into subjects. And on this point, I would like to underline the benevolence of the teaching staff, without whom I would not have been able to obtain such a high quality internship. Finally, this year of M2 was nourished by the presence of several speakers (actors, lawyers, etc.) who, once again, allowed us to become aware of certain realities in the field. The quality of the speakers was more noticeable because our class size was small, which favours a certain proximity that cannot be found in a lecture hall.

At the end of my Master 1, I naturally chose the Master 2, formerly entitled "Fundamental Private Law". As I wanted to become a lawyer, this Master's degree, co-directed by Professors Anne Leborgne and Jean-Baptiste Donnier, met all my expectations. The subjects taught in this course perfectly matched the curriculum of the CRFPA entrance exam. Indeed, the Master 2 proposed a deepening in the fundamental subjects of private law such as the law of obligations or family law. However, these theoretical lessons were completed by a practical vision since professionals (magistrates, lawyers and mediators) also intervened to give us their daily experiences. This ambivalence seemed to me to be a major asset for my professional project. However, the deepening of my personal research - especially in the framework of my dissertation - combined with the richness of the teaching provided by the entire teaching team allowed me to develop a certain attraction for research. This interest was so strong that it led me to continue my studies towards a doctoral thesis under the direction of Professor Gwendoline Lardeux, a teacher in the Master 2 program. The supervision and support were not limited to the academic year itself, since I have been teaching the majority of my tutorials for the Master 2 teachers. If my personal career path has been oriented towards research, my former classmates have succeeded in various fields (lawyers, magistrates, jurists, etc.), thus indicating the multiplicity of opportunities that this training offers. If I had to do this year again, I would choose, without a shadow of a doubt, the Master 2 "Fundamental Private Law" now entitled "Civil Law and Private International Law.

As a member of the class of 2016-2017, I have excellent memories of this university year. First of all, it was a decisive year of orientation. After a M1 in Private Law and Criminal Sciences, I was hesitating between two career paths: the judiciary and a doctorate. The M2 Civil and International Private Law (formerly Fundamental Private Law) allowed me to make a choice without closing any doors. The diversity and quality of the courses offered allowed me to strengthen my knowledge of civil law, which is an important part of the ENM entrance exam program. Moreover, the writing of research reports and in particular of a dissertation allowed me to confirm my taste for research and finally convinced me to register for a thesis. It was also a very enriching year on the intellectual level. The courses are very complete, often focused on one or two issues, which allows you to develop your knowledge on specific topics. They are both theoretical, covering the essential notions of the subject, and practical, giving rise to various exercises: sessions to update case law, practical cases, mock trials, etc. A lot of personal time must be devoted to the preparation of the sessions, but this gives the opportunity to do a lot of reading and to reinforce one's legal culture. This is one of the reasons why this academic year is so valuable. Furthermore, oral participation is facilitated by the small number of students, which leads to rich discussions with the teachers and within the class. In retrospect, this is the best year I have spent at the university and I sincerely thank the M2 teachers for their kindness and availability.