L’entretien client CAJA : écoutez une épreuve orale, telle qu’elle se passe devant le jury
Le TOLES se passe sur table, à l’écrit. La certification CAJA évalue aussi ce que vous faites au téléphone et en réunion : conduire un entretien avec un client anglophone, puis le conseiller. Voici la fiche que reçoit le candidat, les six critères du jury et un échange de trois minutes, joué par deux voix, pour entendre ce qu’on attend.
Ce que reçoit le candidat
Fiche candidat · Entretien client
Vous êtes avocat en droit social dans un cabinet d’affaires à Lyon. Votre cliente, Helen Clarke, directrice des opérations de Brightwell Foods Ltd (Royaume-Uni), vous reçoit au sujet de sa filiale française.
Ce que vous savez : elle souhaite se séparer d’un responsable commercial dont les résultats sont insuffisants. Elle ne connaît pas le droit du travail français.
Votre tâche (30 min) : conduire l’entretien initial — poser les questions nécessaires, reformuler et faire valider ce que vous avez compris — puis exposer la problématique, présenter les options avec leurs avantages et inconvénients, et formuler un conseil avec les réserves d’usage. L’évaluateur joue la cliente.
Ce que l’évaluateur sait (et que vous devez découvrir)
- Marc, responsable commercial, CDI, quatre ans d’ancienneté.
- Objectifs écrits chaque année, non atteints depuis deux ans.
- Remarques orales en entretien annuel ; aucun avertissement écrit, aucun plan d’amélioration.
- Aucun mandat représentatif.
- Le conseil d’administration veut une sortie avant la fin du mois, « comme au Royaume-Uni : un mois de préavis et un chèque ».
Ce que le jury note
Six critères, 18 points, 9 pour valider les épreuves E2–E3. Le jury n’évalue pas la justesse du droit français : il évalue la façon dont vous le dites en anglais.
Écoutez l’échange et recevez la fiche
Un échange modèle entre la cliente et l’avocat, avec la transcription annotée critère par critère, et la fiche PDF (fiche candidat, grille, échange annoté) à garder.
- ClientThank you for seeing me, Maître. I'll get straight to it. We have a sales manager in Lyon, Marc, who hasn't hit his targets for two years. My board wants him gone by the end of the month. In the UK we'd give him a month's notice and a cheque. I assume it's broadly the same here?
- AvocatThank you, Ms Clarke. Before I answer that, I need a clearer picture, so let me ask you a few questions. First, is Marc on a permanent contract, a CDI, or on a fixed-term contract?Cr2.2 · question ciblée, fermée
- ClientPermanent. He joined four years ago.
- AvocatAnd his targets: were they set out in writing, in his contract or in annual objectives letters, and were they discussed with him at his appraisals?Cr2.2 · question ouverte
- ClientThere's an objectives letter each January. His manager raised it at the last two appraisals, but nothing formal. No warning, if that's what you mean.
- AvocatThat's exactly what I mean. Has he ever received a written warning, or any kind of improvement plan?Cr2.2 · question clarificatrice
- ClientNo. We thought a conversation was enough.
- AvocatOne more thing: does Marc hold any employee representative role? Works council, trade union, anything of that kind?Cr2.1 · vocabulaire métier (works council, trade union)
- ClientNot that I know of. No.
- AvocatGood, that matters, because a representative would have additional protection. So let me make sure I've understood you correctly. Marc is a sales manager on a permanent contract, with four years' service and written annual objectives he has missed for two years. Those results were discussed informally at appraisal, but there has been no written warning and no improvement plan. And your board wants the contract ended by the end of the month. Is that a fair summary?Cr2.3 · synthèse et validation explicite
- ClientThat's it exactly.
- AvocatThen I'll be candid with you: it won't be a month's notice and a cheque. Under French law, an employer can only dismiss an employee on a permanent contract for what we call a real and serious cause, une cause réelle et sérieuse. Poor performance, insuffisance professionnelle, can be such a cause, but only if the objectives were realistic, the employee was given the means to reach them, and, in practice, if he was warned and given a chance to improve. On what you've told me, that file is thin.Cr3.1 · problématique exposée · Cr3.3 · termes expliqués
- ClientSo what are my options?
- AvocatBroadly, three. The first is a dismissal for poor performance. The advantage is that it's the employer's decision. The disadvantage is the risk: with no written warning, the labour court, the conseil de prud'hommes, could well find the dismissal unfair, and Marc could claim damages on top of his notice pay and severance. The second is a mutually agreed termination, a rupture conventionnelle: a termination agreement signed by both parties and approved by the labour authority. It's the safer route, but Marc has to agree, so you would be negotiating the package. The third is to build the file first: a formal written warning and a three-month improvement plan, and then, if nothing changes, dismiss on much firmer ground.Cr3.2 · options, avantages et inconvénients
- ClientMy board won't like waiting three months.
- AvocatI understand, and that's a commercial decision for them. But if I may suggest an approach: open the conversation with Marc about a mutual agreement now, while you start the formal improvement process in parallel. If he accepts the agreement, you have a clean exit in about six weeks, given the approval period. If he refuses, you haven't lost any time. Subject to seeing his contract and the objectives letters, that is where I would start.Cr3.2 · conseil formulé avec réserve (« subject to… »)
- ClientAnd the cost, roughly?
- AvocatIn a mutually agreed termination, the minimum is the statutory severance pay, which for four years' service is roughly one month's salary, and in practice there is usually a top-up to secure his agreement. I'd rather not give you a figure before I've seen his pay slips. Shall I send you a short note by Friday setting out the three options, the timeline and a cost range for each?Cr3.3 · réserve professionnelle, étape suivante
- ClientPlease do. That's much clearer than I expected.
Cliquez sur une réplique pour l’écouter. Les étiquettes indiquent le critère que la réplique illustre. Dans l’épreuve réelle, l’échange dure 30 minutes et c’est vous qui parlez : l’évaluateur improvise à partir de sa carte.
Et les quatre autres épreuves ?
La certification compte cinq épreuves en 90 minutes : présentation professionnelle (oral), entretien client (oral, ci-dessus), lettres juridiques (écrit), correction de clauses (écrit) et négociation (oral). Le détail est sur la page de la certification ; la comparaison avec le TOLES, ici.