Philippe Vouland, born on 21 October 1951, has been a criminal lawyer since 22 November 1976.

Long recognised as a specialist in criminal law, Philippe Vouland has left his mark on the criminal bar through his expertise. He began his career alongside Emile Pollak, an eminent figure of the French bar in the twentieth century.

A former first laureate of the Conférence du stage, he was twice elected to the Council of the Marseille Bar, in 1985-1987 and 1994-1996. He was active in the first Conseil national des barreaux (CNB) from 1992 to 1995. Later, from 1995 to 1996, he chaired the Syndicat des Avocats de France (SAF) before becoming a board member of APCARS, working for social rehabilitation and the prevention of reoffending.

Committed to training his fellow lawyers, he co-founded the Institut de Défense Pénale (IDP) with Alain Molla in 2004.

Over the decades, Philippe Vouland has distinguished himself through his involvement in major criminal cases. These include the murders of Judge Pierre Michel and MP Yann Piat, as well as the HSBC poison-pen letters case and the arms trafficking case involving police officers posted at the French embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. He was also involved in the cases of Christian Marletta and Mama Galedou, the victim of a serious bus fire in 2006. The latter case was the subject of a documentary entitled “Des deux côtés de la barre” (“On both sides of the bar”).

He is lawyer to the organising committee of the Rugby World Cup held in France in 2023, as well as to executives of the Pizzorno group and the president of the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) in Marseille, progressively expanding his practice into white-collar criminal law.

He also assists victims’ families, notably in the case of the collapse of Madonna’s stage at the Vélodrome and that of the two buildings that collapsed on rue d’Aubagne in Marseille, causing eight deaths.

Philippe Vouland also speaks regularly at various law schools and at the French National School for the Judiciary (ENM).