Free lawyers week in Paris, 12–18 October: how to get free legal advice in France

From 12 to 18 October 2026, Paris is holding "L'Avocat dans la Cité", a week of free legal consultations run by the Paris Bar (Ordre des avocats de Paris) and the City of Paris. One detail matters for foreign residents: the topics listed on the City's page include droit des étrangers, which is immigration and foreigners' law.

Where and when

According to paris.fr (page updated 21/09/2026):

• Bus de la Solidarité, place de la République: Monday 12 to Friday 16 October, 10:00–18:30.
• Village de l'avocat on the square in front of the Hôtel de Ville: Wednesday 14 October 11:00–18:30, Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 October 10:00–18:30, Sunday 18 October 10:00–15:30.
• Consultations are also held in district town halls (mairies d'arrondissement), access-to-law centres, courthouses and maisons de justice et du droit.

You can book on avocatcite.org, and some venues also take walk-ins. The consultations are free, and the Paris Bar adds that they are confidential.

The City lists these topics: housing, employment, family, property and inheritance, business, crafts and retail, consumer rights, banking law, criminal law, traffic offences, tax, civil-service law, immigration law and general consultations.

Neither page says which languages the consultations are given in. If your French is still shaky, it's worth bringing someone who can help interpret.

Outside this week: free legal advice is always available

The Paris week is a visible event, but it is not your only chance. Service-public (page verified 22/07/2026) states that you can get a free legal consultation regardless of your situation and nationality. The options are:

• Point-justice. This covers access-to-law centres, maisons de justice et du droit and similar places, where lawyers, notaries and other professionals hold free sessions. You will find them in community centres, France Services offices and courthouses. Some sessions are open to everyone, while others are aimed at specific groups, such as young people.
• The local bar (barreau). Every bar in France organises free consultations, sometimes on specific topics (divorce, discrimination).
• Associations and trade unions. Some offer their members free consultations, and unions do so for work-related issues.
• Insurance. A protection juridique guarantee in an insurance contract may cover lawyer's fees up to a cap. It's worth checking your home or car insurance policy for one.

To find the nearest Point-justice, search the directory at lannuaire.service-public.gouv.fr or call 3039, the Ministry of Justice's free single number for access to law. From abroad or the overseas territories, call 09 70 82 31 90 (per the Toulouse Court of Appeal).

The common mistake: expecting the consultation to handle your case

Under the rules, only the first consultation is free. A lawyer will listen, explain rights and obligations, and point you to the next step. If you need a lawyer to take the case on, you will have to pay, unless you qualify for aide juridictionnelle.

Aide juridictionnelle is state legal aid that covers all or part of court costs and lawyer's fees for people with limited resources. Under the rules, non-EU nationals must normally live in France on a habitual basis. That condition does not apply to minors, to victims of violence who hold an ordonnance de protection, or to people involved in criminal proceedings. For a single person, the income ceiling for full aid is €12,957 a year. Above that, partial aid of 55% or 25% is available (service-public, verified 12/06/2026).

How to prepare

A first consultation is usually short, so the better you prepare, the more you get out of it:

• write a short, dated timeline of what happened;
• bring the documents: lease or employment contract, letters, prefecture decisions, notices, receipts;
• if the question concerns your residence permit, bring the permit or récépissé and all correspondence about your file;
• decide in advance on the two or three questions that matter most.

If there is a deadline to appeal a decision, it is stated in the decision itself. Go and see a lawyer well before it runs out, not on the last day.

This is general information about how free legal help works in France, not legal advice.