The lawyer was elected at the elective general meeting of the Côte d’Ivoire Bar Association, held on Saturday July 29, 2023. She will take office in October 2024 for a 3-year term, becoming the first woman to hold this position within this professional order created in 1959.
The Côte d’Ivoire Bar Association brings together lawyers based throughout the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. It guarantees the professional competence and ethical conduct of its members. The bar is administered by a Conseil de l’Ordre and chaired by a bâtonnier. One year before the end of each term, the bar’s elective general meeting elects the successor to the current president. This successor is known as the “Dauphin de l’Ordre des avocats”.
Dauphine Florence Loan-Messan will succeed current Bâtonnier ME Claude Mentenon. Between 2005 and 2011, she was a member of the Conseil de l’Ordre, the deliberative, legislative and disciplinary body of the Côte d’Ivoire Bar.
As President of the Bar, Florence Loan-Messan will be responsible for the management of the Bar; representing the Bar in all civil acts, in dealings with the public authorities, the courts, all other authorities and third parties; ensuring compliance with the professional ethics and discipline of lawyers, and as such will be the prosecuting authority in disciplinary matters; and preventing, conciliating and resolving disputes of a professional nature between members of the Bar and investigating any claims made by third parties against a lawyer.
Banking, commerce and insurance
A member of the Côte d’Ivoire Bar since 1996, Florence Loan-Messan is an associate with the law firm Société Civile Professionnelle d’Avocats (SCPA) Konan Loan & Associés, where she began her career in 1996 as a trainee lawyer. She became a partner of the firm in 2017.
Florence Loan-Messan specializes in banking law, contract law, insurance law, labor law, commercial law and corporate law. She practices in the fields of banking, commerce and insurance.
Maître Florence Loan-Messan has, among other achievements, overseen the updating of the 5-volume Guide juridique de la Côte d’Ivoire.
Vice-president of the International Network of Women Lawyers of Côte d’Ivoire (RIFAV Côte d’Ivoire), she is also currently secretary of the Bar Association, lecturing at the private university faculties of Abidjan (FUPA).
First Conference Secretary between 1998-1999, Maître Florence Loan-Messan was Secretary of the Côte d’Ivoire Bar Association from 2015 to 2018.
Maître Florence Loan-Messan holds a Master 2 in corporate law from the University of Toulouse I, France, as well as a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in private law from the University of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. She also holds a certificat d’aptitude à la profession d’avocat (CAPA).
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