Administration & Contact

For Pierre Kirch, the attorney-client relationship is sacred.  And when he acts as mediator, neutrality, independence and respect of the parties are sacred principles as well. 

In all cases, whether as avocat or mediator, Pierre carries out services as a member of the Paris & Brussels Bars, and this confers professional guarantees.   Through the Paris bar,  he has a comprehensive professional insurance policy.   In all cases, he is subject to the professional ethics rules of his profession.  In particular, with regard to Confidentiality.

With 35+ years of experience in BigLaw and a track record of work on sensitive and high stakes client matters over the years (many of which in the multi-billions of USD category), the confidentiality reflex is second nature to Pierre as an independent professional.  He is used to being privy to the most closely-held secrets of companies.  Those at the heart of their interests.  For Pierre, Confidentiality is not only a matter of professional ethics.  It is innate.  It is a reflex.  It is a value to protect

In Pierre Kirch’s work, all electronic data and documents and communications, remain domiciled in France, via Pierre’s highly-secure services provider, O2Switch.

Via the Conseil national des Barreau in France, Pierre  also uses, where appropriate,  a specific, highly-secure encryption service for French lawyers only in their electronic exchanges, via his membership  account with the platform avocat.fr. The use of this encryption service for electronic exchanges may be used by Pierre in all appropriate cases, whether he acts as avocat or as mediator.

It has been said on many occasions that lawyers work in opaque ways.  This does not have to be the case, and should not be.  Pierre Kirch is committed to direct and personal exchanges with clients. He endeavors to practice  transparency and free-flowing communication through the use of  the communication tools of modern technology.

To ensure fluid communications (and as is the case with many practical elements of administration in general), method is the key.  For the appointment of Pierre Kirch to perform legal services, an Engagement Letter is drawn up from the outset and agreed to with the new client.  In the case of mediation, a mediation agreement sets out the structure and means of the process, from the outset (as Pierre practices mediation in an institutional framework, this would normally be the mediation agreement of the organization concerned (for instance, Equanim International)).

Before entering into an engagement with a new client, Pierre organizes a preliminary meeting (live or via video-conference) to discuss the matter, ensure compatibility and confirm a fundamental accord on means and objectives.

As for fees, Pierre Kirch adheres, of course, to the professional ethics rules of the Paris and Brussels Bars.   He continues to function under the traditional hourly system but is open to all other equitable fee arrangements as well, such as fixed fee, capped fee schedules and long-term project reductions when feasible.  In all cases, as an independent practitioner, his fees arrangements are much lower than when he practiced in the framework of BigLaw.  Transparency and communication are the key to ensuring a fair fees arrangement.  To facilitate this goal, Pierre issues invoices on a bi-monthly basis.  All this is agreed to in advance and established in clear language in the Engagement Letter.  In the case of mediation, where Pierre acts as mediator, the remuneration method is set out in the mediation agreement.

As a teacher of Artificial Intelligence Law to master’s level law students, Pierre is eminently aware of the advantages in terms of efficiency of the use of generative AI tools.  He uses them as an independent practitioner for rapid information-gathering.  He knows that LLM based generative AI tools are probabilistic, and uses them accordingly with all due precaution and in conformity with the professional ethics rules of the Paris & Brussels Bars.  As a personal project, he is aware of the importance the use of language in prompting such tools, and understands that masterly use of language prompts is indispensable in order to obtain the best output from generative AI tools. In all cases, Pierre assumes the responsibility of his advice as a lawyer, regardless of whether he has used generative AI tools in the preparation of his analysis.  He is transparent about his methods in their use and such is reflected in the Engagement Letter.