French President Nicolas Sarkozy has set in motion a Clementi-style review of the country’s legal profession so that French practices can ­compete with their Anglo-Saxon rivals.

In a letter to Jean-Michel Darrois, who is heading the review, Sarkozy said it was ­necessary to give French firms greater freedom to develop their practices ‘in the face of Anglo-Saxon firms’.

This would include multi-disciplinary practices and ­non-lawyer investment in law firms.

More radically still, Sarkozy proposed merging the legal and notarial professions in France, a move which is likely to send shockwaves through notaries across Europe.

It was France under Napoleon which established the framework for the modern notarial profession, which in civil law jurisdictions has a much greater function in the legal process than is the case in England and Wales.

Darrois is one of France’s most eminent company lawyers, but has chosen to have neither avocats nor notaires on his 12-strong review panel.