Applications are now open for the Prix Mario Stasi 2025 competition for advocates

The Paris Bar Association invites young Ukrainian lawyers to participate in the Prix Mario Stasi 2025, a prestigious public speaking competition dedicated to the right to defense and the role of lawyers in society.

The Mario Stasi Prize is a platform for lawyers from around the world who wish to speak out publicly in defense of their colleagues who have been persecuted for performing their professional duties or whose rights as lawyers have been violated. Each speech must be dedicated to a real lawyer, living or deceased, who has been the victim of pressure or harassment because of their work defending their clients.

Lawyers under the age of 40 with up to 10 years of experience and fluent in French are eligible to participate in the competition.

Applications must be submitted by June 20 with the text of the speech (up to 10 minutes) by email to the secretaries of the Paris Bar Association.

• Maître Aimée Kleiman — akleiman@charlotte-michon-avocat.fr
• Maître Noémie Gorin — gorin@bg2v.com

Six finalists will be selected from among all applications and will deliver their speeches in person in Paris on November 27 as part of the festivities marking the opening of the new legal year (Rentrée du barreau de Paris).

The winners (who will be selected by a jury of leading French lawyers and representatives of international professional associations) will receive a diploma, a printed copy of their speech, gifts, and support from the Law for Society Foundation (Droit pour la Société) at the Institut de France.

For reference: the award is named after Mario Stassi, a prominent French advocate, former president of the Paris Bar Association, first secretary of the Conference and president of the International Conference of Bar Associations (CIB). He devoted his entire life to defending lawyers who were subjected to pressure or persecution solely for carrying out their professional duties. His name has become a symbol of the defense of the right to defense, a mission that remains fragile even in countries with well-established legal institutions.

The rules for the Prix Mario Stasi 2025 competition can be found at link.