Laurent Touvet

Born in Dijon (France) in 1962, Laurent Touvet graduated from the Paris Business School and the Paris Institute of Political Science. He then joined the National School of Administration (class of 1990 Jean Monnet).

In 1990 he became a member of the French Council of State, Supreme Administrative Court. His role was sometimes that of administrative judge specializing in the law of regional authorities and of the public service, sometimes that of Government legal adviser. For six years (1995-2001) he was also assistant rapporteur to the Constitutional Council, dealing with cases of electoral dispute.

He has also held senior administrative positions: from 2001 to 2004, he was head of the services of the Higher Audiovisual Council, an independent body regulating the radio and television sector. From 2007 to 2013, he was Director of Civil Liberties and Legal Affairs, French Ministry of the Interior. From 2013 to 2016, he was Prefect of Ain, in charge of the administration of State and security services in this département situated between Lyon and Geneva. Since September 2016, he has been Prefect of Haut-Rhin, département of 760,000 inhabitants in Alsace.

He has experience as a local elected representative, having been deputy mayor of a town of 6,000 inhabitants (1995-2001).

He has published two works (Les grands arrêts du droit de la décentralisation, 2nd edition 2001, and Droit des élections, 2nd edition 2014), as well as many articles on administrative law, principally the law of local authorities and the law of the public service.

In parallel, he has gained experience in several international tribunals, in particular the NATO Appeals Board, of which he was a member from 2006 to 2013, when it became the Administrative Tribunal.