Strategic Lawyering Published on 27 April 2018 by Thomas Caveng
Inauguration of the Sir John Monash Centre
Jean-Luc Soulier and Laure Marolleau had the very great honor to be invited by the Australian Government to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Sir John Monash Centre built on the site of the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux where lie the bodies of many Australian soldiers who died in France during World War I. This ceremony was held in the presence of the Australian and French Prime Ministers.
Our firm is cited as “French legal advisor” – among the service providers who have worked towards the completion of the Centre – in the last pages of the fine book that has been published to mark this occasion.
We are very grateful to our colleagues Ian Davis and Richard Crawford, partners at the Australian law firm Minter Ellison, for having recommended us to the Australian Government.
The date of this inauguration ceremony was not a random choice: It was the eve of the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux which took place on April 25, 1918, three years after the bloody campaign of Gallipoli which is commemorated every year in Australia as the ANZAC Day, just like we celebrate the 14th of July every year in France.
The victory gained at Villers-Bretonneux prevented the Germans from capturing the city of Amiens. Without the Australian soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), the outcome of the war could have been quite different.
The Sir John Monash Centre immerses visitors in a unique multimedia experience, the heroes of which are ordinary young men who have shown extraordinary courage and who were mowed down on a foreign land thousands of miles away from their home to defend a common ideal.
The visit of the Centre will remain an unforgettable experience!
For more information on the Sir John Monash Centre, please visit https://sjmc.gov.au/
Thomas Caveng
Legal Translator / Marketing Director