He defended a young woman named Gabrielle Bompard in a sensational 1889 murder trial, calling in Georges Gilles de la Tourette as an expert witness on hypnotism.
In 1903, a Paris correspondent for the New York Times described him as "an exceptionally successful lawyer...
the favorite advocate of the criminal classes (who) has already saved innumerable heads from the guillotine".From 1913 through 1919, he was President of the Paris Bar.