A Journey Through Public Law with Pascale Idoux

“One day, a colleague from another field jokingly asked me, ‘But what does a legal researcher actually look for? Articles in the code? ’ He made me laugh! I know it’s not always easy to understand what we do here.” ” With a smile that shines through even behind her mask, Pascale Idoux has the look and the down-to-earth nature of those who are passionate about their work. And a résumé as thick as a Dalloz.

Are legal references lost on you? Pascale Idoux starts from the beginning, setting the stage. The law? “A toolbox,” the researcher replies.“The law is effective or successful when social, economic, and political relationships function smoothly. There’s always friction, but the law is a tool for regulating, pacifying, giving concrete form to values, and strengthening the collective.” ” Public law? “It’s the law that applies to public institutions—so to the state, local governments, universities… It also governs the relationships between public institutions and private individuals. It’s a timely issue given the health measures that are severely restricting individual freedoms.”

Skillful guidance

As with any good portrait, we set out to find that initial spark—what first ignited her passion for public law. The answer comes with a laugh: “You’re going to find this funny.” It goes back to her first year of law school at the University of Montpellier. A young high school graduate more interested in philosophy and history. Knowing nothing about law school, she chose constitutional law and the history of law as electives, thus ruling out the civil law track. “It was when I got to know the others that I realized civil law is the foundation of the foundation. In a lecture hall of six hundred, there were probably only two or three of us who hadn’t taken civil law. It was too late to change, but luckily I ended up liking it.” The path that followed is enough to restore confidence in any student who might be doubting their choices.

The student, who had chosen her path both unwisely and fortunately, eventually earned her doctorate and became a professor and researcher. This dual role soon led her toward new challenges and new areas of study. She thus took up the mantle of the International School of Nuclear Law following the retirement of its founder. “It was a very original initiative in Montpellier, a sort of summer school that awarded a university diploma. We had 60 different nationalities, people asking tough legal questions—like those insurers exploring how to insure against nuclear risk! It was quite a mind-blowing experience. ” Having become a professor of administrative law—a branch of public law—at the University of Montpellier, she took on the co-direction of the Master’s program in Applied Public Law in 2009, followed by the co-direction of the Master’s program now renamed Public Law and Litigation. She still holds this position, while also heading the Department of Law and Political Science.

Europe: A Copernican Revolution

On the research front, she joined CREAM, the Center for Research and Administrative Studies in Montpellier. Public law indeed offers numerous avenues for research, and some of them naturally bring you closer to the legislative chambers. “A public law researcher must engage in forward-thinking, projecting themselves into the future to try to anticipate legal issues and help foster discussion. It’s not when an amendment is introduced in the middle of the night in the National Assembly that we have time to launch a broad discussion.”

In 2012, it expanded beyond the scope of French law and became a member of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO). Based in Greece, the organization holds an annual academic conference bringing together scholars from across Europe. “It’s a place where we discuss major issues in public law with legal experts from various countries—whether they’re academics, members of the Council of State, or their equivalents in other nations. And there, too, when it comes to culture clashes, it can be quite eye-opening! ”

For the researcher, the shift to a European framework represents THE Copernican revolution in her field, public economic law. It is a subject to which she devotes herself wholeheartedly, noting that in order to build Europe, states had to dismantle entire sections of their legal systems, without, however, systematically establishing a genuine common project. This issue lies at the heart of a collective work (1) that she co-edited with Jean-Bernard Auby. “The difficulties in supplying masks, followed by vaccination issues, are now making Europe aware of its shortcomings. After having removed everything that stood in the way of the free movement of activities and goods from one country to another, how can we now use public law to help build a proactive common economic and industrial policy? ”

At the intersection of disciplines

In 2013, Pascale Idoux joined the Institut universitaire de France for a five-year term as a junior member. This status opened the doors to the Institut des hautes études de l’entreprise (IHEE), which embarked her, along with some forty others, on a unique year-long adventure. “ We were a fairly diverse group—journalists, union leaders, rising stars from the CAC 40, politicians, judges… This little group would periodically hop on a bus, train, or plane to visit companies, attend conferences, and debrief together.” From this experience, the researcher developed a taste for networking and interdisciplinarity. “We generally came from the same socio-professional backgrounds, shared common interests and reading material, yet we didn’t approach things in the same way, and that taught us to be wary of ourselves.”

It was ultimately her specialization in public economic law that convinced her of the value of this interdisciplinary approach. As she began working with regulatory bodies such as the French Audiovisual Council (CSA) on ways to adapt to the emergence of digital platforms like Netflix, she realized that to further develop her legal expertise, she also needed to understand economics. “At that time, itwas invaluable to me to have economist colleagues—top-tier experts in their field yet able to explain to me in simple terms the background of the economic debates I was discovering as a lawyer. I then understood the value and the pleasure that can be derived from these cross-pollinations of perspectives.” She maintains a constant connection to the economy by updating every two years the public law of the economy handbook founded in the 1990s by Montpellier professor Jean-Philippe Colson.

From Digital Technology to Communications Law

It was during this assignment for the CSA that she returned to the field of electronic and digital communications law (2). “I’m very interested in this area because it completely redefines the scope of regulations and regulatory authorities. It’s stimulating to try to understand the phenomena that are revolutionizing or reshaping the landscape in our areas of expertise.” Pascale Idoux focuses on the challenges, the decision-making practices of regulatory authorities, and communications law, publishing columns on this highly topical subject. “Can Twitter suspend the account of a sitting president? How should we balance the accountability of platforms in the fight against illegal content? These are the kinds of questions we might ask, ” she explains.

Another example is the sanction imposed by the CSA on the Cnews channel following discriminatory remarks made on air by one of its commentators. This is a highly sensitive issue in public law that raises questions about the delicate balance between freedom of expression and regulatory oversight of what may or may not be broadcast via audiovisual media. “This is an area that really gets legal professionals talking. Our field is constantly changing and interacting with society, which allows me to explore many different topics, while never losing sight of the central question: How do all these major issues impact my specific area of expertise?”

(1) European Economic Governance, 2017, edited by Jean-Bernard Auby and Pascale Idoux, Administrative Law Series, Bruylant

(2) This month, she is also publishing a book titled *Digital Technology, Law, and Justice* with Christophe Albiges and Laura Milano, two colleagues from the University of Montpellier, published by Éditions du CREAM.