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At the French commercial courts the judges are not professionals but volunteers.
They are traders, storekeepers and manager of companies and they are elected from their local peers. To have a chance to be elected the candidate has to fulfil the following requirements
Age = 30 years old
French citizen
Having never faced a bankruptcy procedure
Registered during the 5 last years at the Chamber of Commerce
Having during 5 years be running a store or company as a general manager or chairman or owner.
Very surprisingly they are 3 categories of persons which are also able to be elected as commercial court judges
The spouses of the shop owners having been supporting their husband in the business with no other Job
The ship and airplane captains (and this is not a joke).
The elections are hold one time a year in October.
The voting persons are the elected and retired commercial judges.
During his first election the judge is elected for 2 years, during the second for 4 years and he can be re-elected 2 more times so that in the end he will be Judge for 14 years.
The first year the commercial judge is obliged to follow a 5 months training at the National School for Judges were the professional judges are trained during 31 one months.
All over France they are 3200 commercial judges.
When you start a litigation procedure before a French commercial court you should be aware of this specificity.
There is an exception in a geographical area called Alsace Moselle the commercial court judges are professionals and not volunteers.
On the second level (appeal) the judges are all professionals.
Georges Vonfelt