Jean-Jacques Urvoas

Jean-Jacques Urvoas (born 19 September 1959) is a French politician. He was minister of Justice from 2016 to 2017. He represented Finistère's 1st constituency in the National Assembly of France from 2007 to 2016, as a member of the Socialist, radical, citizen and miscellaneous left.

Early life and education

Jean-Jacques Urvoas was born on 19 September 1959 in Brest. His father was a pharmacist general in the army. He describes himself as having been "a real dunce" at school. He studied, in turn, law at the University of Western Brittany in Brest, political science at the University of Rennes I, and political communication at Paris I. He then proceeded to the Sorbonne where he wrote a dissertation on politicians Michel Rocard and Simone Veil. In 1996, he returned to Brest, where he earned a doctorate in political science with a thesis entitled "Electoral Table of Western Brittany, 1973-1993" and written under the direction of Jacques Baguenard.

Career

In 1998, he became a lecturer in public law at the University of Western Brittany and the Brest Institute for General Administration (IPAG Brest). He taught constitutional law and political science in the law training and research unit (UFR). Since his election to the French National Assembly, he has been seconded from the public service.

He joined the French Socialist Party (PS) for the first time in 1977 but left it because he was disappointed by the lack of an "epic breath." He returned to it intermittently, however, until 1981. From 1984 to 1986, while he was a student, he worked as a parliamentary assistant in the National Assembly. In 1986, he became director of the Mutualité Finistere and in 1989, Bernard Poignant, who had been elected mayor of Quimper, asked him to become the director of his cabinet.