PSL-Dauphine Legal Clinic
The PSL-Dauphine Legal Clinic is an innovative academic and social project that aims to get Dauphine law students working on real cases. To ensure that they provide high-quality legal services, students are supervised by experienced attorneys.
Respect Zone Law Clinic for Digital Human Rights
The Université PSL Digital Human Rights Clinic (Respect Zone DHN-PSL) at Dauphine gives students the opportunity to work in collaboration with the NGO Respect Zone in order to apply their legal knowledge to the prevention of cyberviolence.
The Legal Clinic gives practitioners and students an opportunity to have an impact on society by serving as legal professionals on legal and civic initiatives that contribute to our understanding of digital human rights.
The Respect Zone DHN-PSL Clinic offers legal assistance led by experts from the Respect Zone association (providing unique access to a range of specific cases pertaining to both human rights and digital rights). This laboratory aspires to operate like a law firm specializing in the remediation of digital spaces.
It opens up numerous opportunities to students:
These include legal departments and law firms interested in corporate law and social responsibility as they pertain to digital businesses, celebrities, image rights, personal data management, criminal law, minors, and brands. Initiatives touch on aspects of business law, digital and media law, criminal law, and cyberviolence law.
This clinic is the only one of its kind, combining social utility, ethics, action, and discussion on topics such as the digital environment, personal assistance, and new technology law, all with the goal of preventing cyberviolence.
The clinical track offers students the opportunity to help assist victims under the supervision of the clinic's management team, and to take on – with guidance from seasoned legal experts in business law and human rights – researching and resolving specific cases that fall within the purview of the Respect Zone Cercle des Juristes who oversee the DHN-PSL clinic.
Under the guidance of legal professionals who are experts in their respective fields (corporate law, digital law, criminal law, etc.) and members of Respect Zone's association of jurists, clinic workers work to resolve specific cases that fall within the framework of the association's activities (www.respectzone.org).
The Respect Zone Cercle des Juristes is a group of nearly 70 legal experts and attorneys who devote pro-bono time and expertise to help end cyberviolence. The supervising association members hail from first-rate legal teams and firms specializing in corporate law and criminal defense.
When students take on cases, they are bound by an obligation of confidentiality and must comply with the rules set out in the Respect Zone Charter. Cases can typically be handled remotely. Most cases involve group work. Project deadlines must be met.
Objectives
The Clinic's mission is to provide practical tools such as dossiers and case studies that are of use to victims of cyberviolence and to deploy a range of innovative legal methods in order to ensure the protection of digital human rights and the prevention of cyberviolence.
Students can prove their legal commitment to such issues as online respect and the prevention of cyberviolence (harassment, discrimination, radicalization, fake news, sexism, etc.), in keeping with the Respect Zone charter by engaging in the kinds of work described below.
Students can assist:
- The Victim Support group, which provides assistance to victims of cyberviolence and their loved ones by creating guides to apps and chat bots that are can be used to help prevent cyberviolence or enable victims to exercise their rights. This group is collaborating with the child and adolescent psychiatry unit at the Assistance Publique Pitié Salpêtrière public hospital involved on an experimental helpline with Respect Zone that focuses on legal assistance and counseling.
- The Public Affairs and Spokespersons group proposes updates to standards regarding education about screen use, the fight against online hate and harassment, as well as prevention and other areas pertaining to Respect Zone’s 50 Proposals. A number of committees and elected officials request an audience with the organization on a regular basis, and students assist in preparing for these public sessions and consultations.
- The #Respectduels/Cyber Debate group periodically hosts online public speaking competitions about respect online that apply rhetorical techniques to online expression. These are accessible to anyone with a smartphone.
- The Local Government group facilitates relationships with local governments, bar associations and jurist groups to develop urban initiatives.
- The pro bono division of the Cercle des Juristes assists the organization in drafting their contracts and day-to-day legal documents.
- The Education group asks students to attend events on the Clinic's behalf, either in the Paris region or online, to help promote Clinic activities and represent them in positive intervention situations online.
Students help develop innovative legal tools and play a role in building a digital environment that encourage respect and goodwill. Human rights offer a means for future jurists to differentiate themselves on the basis of their ethics and their commitment to creating a culture of digital respect.
Clinic workers organize an annual PSL event on the theme of digital business ethics and cyberviolence prevention.
Workers help to develop the tools used by the clinic and its partner legal organizations.
Clinic workers have an opportunity to publish on topics relating to the Respect Zone DHN-PSL Clinic in venues such as Village de la Justice, Revue Compliance, Journal Spécial des Sociétés, and the Respect Zone website.
Requirements:
- Strict respect for confidentiality
- Willingness to sign the Charter on www.respectzone.org
- Ability to work remotely
- Occasional availability for meetings and helplines
- Writing skills
- Ability to meet deadlines and work as part of a team
- Thoroughness
The Team
Clinic director: Philippe Coen (President of the NGO Respect Zone) under the patronage of Prof. Georges Decocq
Development and Coordination:
- Eric Lauvaux, attorney and director of the Respect Zone Cercle des Juristes
- Laura Blu Mauss, C.A.P.A., head of coordination and development at Respect Zone
With support from:
- Alexandre Lercher, contract-based PhD candidate in International Commercial Arbitration and associate research professor (part-time) in the graduate program in Law at Paris Dauphine PSL
- Marc Servant, PhD candidate in Public International Law at Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas and temporary officer of teaching and research at Université Paris Dauphine PSL
Speakers from the RZ Cercle des Juristes in 2021:
- Anne Cousin, associate attorney in IP/IT at Herald
- Vincent Denoyelle, associate attorney in IP/IT at Eversheds Sutherland
- Marie Daphnée Fishelson, labor law attorney at August Debouzy
- Matthieu Juglar, associate attorney at JLT Avocats
- Vincent Tisler, public law attorney
- Patrick Vilbert, attorney in intellectual property and press law, former conference secretary
Academic and Professional Partnerships
- Partnership with the Observatoire de la haine en ligne (Online Hate Watchdog; established July 8, 2020) under the auspices of the Superior Audiovisual Council (ARCOM)
- Partnership with the NGO Respect Zone (www.respectzone.org), and by extension, partners of the RZ Cercle des Juristes