Scope of work
Administrative law governs the relationship between a person or business and a public authority: a decision granting or withdrawing a licence, a contract concluded with a government body, a penalty imposed on an employee or a counterparty. It turns on procedural rules of its own that differ from ordinary civil litigation: short limitation periods, a mandatory grievance step in some cases, and a fine line between what the courts will review and what falls within the authority's discretion.
We represent clients in annulment actions directed at the decision itself where it is tainted by a defect: lack of jurisdiction, breach of form or procedure, error in the interpretation or application of the law, or misuse of power. Alongside annulment we seek a stay of execution where enforcing the decision would cause harm that cannot afterwards be undone, because a judgment that arrives too late may not restore the position.
The work extends to administrative contracts and their particular character: tenders, award decisions and grievances against procurement committees; the authority's power to vary or terminate in the public interest, and the contractor's corresponding right to the financial balance of the contract and to compensation. We also handle claims for compensation for administrative fault, and public employment disputes from disciplinary penalties to termination of service.
What we do in this area
- Actions to annul administrative decisions and applications to stay their execution before the competent courts.
- Administrative grievances before the issuing authority, filed within the mandatory period where one applies.
- Challenges to the withdrawal, suspension or non-renewal of professional and commercial licences and permits.
- Government tender and auction disputes: conditions of the tender, prequalification, award, and grievances against them.
- Administrative contracts: drafting and performance, variation and termination, and claims for the financial balance of the contract.
- Compensation claims for loss caused by an authority's decisions or its physical acts.
- Public employment disputes: disciplinary penalties, promotion, termination of service and end-of-service entitlements.
- Administrative fines and penalties, and grievances before the committees with jurisdiction over them.
How we work
The first thing we examine in an administrative file is the deadline. Many rights are lost not for weakness on the merits but because the period for challenge expired or a mandatory grievance was overlooked, so we start from the date of knowledge of the decision and its effect on admissibility before turning to the substance.
We then draw the line carefully between what the courts will review and what the authority decides for itself, and build the challenge on a specific defect we can prove from the authority's own papers. Where we consider the decision sound, we say so, because an annulment action without a basis costs time and money for nothing.