Law Society Journal (NSW, Australia), February 2001, page 23. Cite as (2001) 39 (1) LSJ 23

Maintaining the francophone tradition

By Mary Rose Liverani

PURISTS MIGHT LABEL solicitor Sally Basten a francophile rather than a francophone since French is not her native language, but her French Pacific clients are willing to overlook the distinction in an Anglo who started French lessons so young she can?t recall the learning process.

?I was born in England,? she said, ?and my parents thought it a good thing for their children to have tuition in a foreign language. They opted for French. I was five then, I think. When we moved to Sydney my two brothers and I continued with private French lessons. Then, of course, we took French at high school.?

Basten?s brothers let their French languish but she went on to do French honours as part of her arts-law degree at Sydney University.

Her expertise in French civil law is much more recently acquired and harder won.

Napoleon?s famous code first came Basten?s way ten years ago when a vacancy in Camille Dezarnaulds? Sydney practice afforded her the opportunity to combine her two great enthusiasms, the law and French studies.

?I?d returned to Sydney after a spell working in France,? she said, ?but teaching English ? not working in a law practice though I?d written to some big English and French firms after graduating, trying to find law work. So I was interested on coming back to hear about the Dezarnaulds practice and of a recent retirement that might make an opening for me.?

See chapters:
º Dezarnaulds of New Caledonia
º Good lawyer, good employer, good partner, good father
º An assiduous networker
º Continuing the tradition
º Forced succession and testamentary freedom

Dezarnaulds of New Caledonia

The Camille Dezarnaulds that young Sally Basten first met was already a very old (86 years) and very experienced lawyer who had been running a bilingual practice since 1931 but in 1992 was a consultant to the practice where his sons, Peter and Camille junior, were partners.

Born in Noumea and brought to Australia by his parents at age four, Dezarnaulds senior retained and cultivated close links with the French Pacific region, even returning there when he was 18 to do his military service.

?He was sent off to the bush in Noumea and apparently enjoyed the experience very much,? Basten said, adding that ?the Dezarnaulds family were always associated with the law over there. Cam?s grandfather was a lawyer and the New Caledonians looked upon him almost as family: any matter calling for an important decision required Cam?s input. They?d often drop in without an appointment just to see him and have a chat. He was a very special person in their lives.?


Good lawyer, good employer, good partner, good father

A eulogy delivered by Mr Justice Bryce Ross Jones at Camille Dezarnaulds? funeral in November 1999, suggests the French-Australian lawyer had a special place in many Anglo lives too.

Judge Ross Jones, who was Dezarnaulds? first articled clerk, revealed that when his father died unexpectedly in 1946, ?Camille was a tower of strength? in keeping the practice going until the Judge?s two elder brothers completed their law studies and were admitted as solicitors.

?They ran the practice,? he said, ?but with Camille always being available along the corridor for help on a daily basis.?

Judge Ross Jones described Dezarnaulds as ?one of the most influential lights in my life? and that light ?now gone out.?

At one point in his firm?s ?many incarnations?, as Basten refers to the changes in partnership the French-Australian practice underwent over the years, Dezarnaulds employed Cecily Backhouse (now a District Court Judge) as the office

According to Judge Ross Jones, Camille Dezarnaulds influenced the two women to take up legal studies. Judge Backhouse was among those present at his funeral.


An assiduous networker

Though it?s said ?a gentle humility was really his hallmark? Dezarnaulds appears to have been an assiduous networker, a skill no doubt early acquired during his formative years at Sydney Grammar School and later extended at Sydney University where law studies did not prevent his becoming a sporting star.

Apart from the extensive client base he developed in the French Pacific region, and the network of agents he operated in rural NSW, he also established close ties with French diplomatic and trade representatives, securing the position of Official Legal Officer to the French Consulate in NSW and to the French Ambassador, as well as being legal adviser to the French Chamber of Commerce which he served as a committee member.

In 1979 the French Government awarded him the Legion of Honour for his services to the French community over a long period of time.

Dezarnaulds? two sons, Peter and Camille junior followed their father into the law. Peter continues to practise but only on a consultancy basis; Camille Junior left the firm in 1992 and is now with Peter Murphy and Co at Bondi Junction. Dezarnaulds Basten has been a sole practice since Sally Basten took over from Peter Dezarnaulds in April 1996.


Continuing the tradition

The usual long hours of the sole practitioner are necessarily stretched to maintain and strengthen the firm?s French connection.

Basten?s general French was well up to the mark, she considered, but she had a ?lot to learn? about commercial French and immediately she started at Dezarnaulds she studied copies of French correspondence from the files.

She discovered there?s no concept of ?plain French? in the French legal profession. Legal French is ?incredibly convoluted and flowery?.

Basten doesn?t try to copy the style exactly but works on a compromise basis.

In 1993 completing a Diploma in Business French offered by the French Consulate (and taken up mainly by lawyers) gave her facility in dealing with stock exchange jargon, trade and shipping terms and she has in mind to do a two-year course in French civil law offered by Canada?s McGill University to common law graduates.

The practice?s French orientation is sufficient to ensure that Basten speaks and writes French every working day. Translation of documents is an ongoing activity she enjoys, finding it intellectually challenging. Her clients like the little footnotes she provides elaborating on differences in concepts, why the words ?trust? and ?settlement? have no exact equivalent in French, for instance. She has ?a huge number of resources? that


Forced succession and testamentary freedom

Property law has featured strongly in Basten?s practice but her specialty by far is estate law, one French legal subject she feels right on top of. The differences between French and common law succession are quite considerable, she said.

A Tahitian family thinking of shifting to Australia for instance might seek advice on how to dispose of their property and be delighted to discover the absence of death duties here, but feel less happy when they learn about the testamentary freedom that can allow the family fortune to go to a cat?s home.

?There?s a certain security of inheritance in French laws of forced succession,? Basten said. ?Nobody can be disinherited by their parents, spouse or partner. This seems to meet with France?s social policy goals.?

Over the years she has learned how to deal with the French bureaucracy whose initial response to any query is always to say, ?it is not possible?.

?Take me to your leader? and an avowed intention not to budge until the impossible becomes possible, usually does the trick, she said.

The introduction of email and fast transmission of documents has been a boon for the practice as is the network of very competent French agents built up over time.

In Sydney, Basten currently operates within a loose chambers arrangement, sharing overheads with W.H.Parsons and Associates and some other professionals who help each other out in an informal way.

She loves her work and values the tradition set by Camille Dezarnaulds senior.?I try to do things the way Camille did.? (Including taking time to chat with clients when they drop in and keeping the ?family? feel of the practice.)

Her big difficulty at the moment is finding a suitably able bilingual secretary who will train to do para-legal work and a bilingual employed solicitor.

?The trouble is they need both high level English and French. Not very easy to find. So, if you know anyone ...?