Richard Malka

Richard Malka (born 6 June 1968) is a French lawyer, comics writer and novelist.

He obtained the baccalauréat in 1986 and became a lawyer in 1992 after first having studied science and business.

Malka first met with Charlie Hebdo as an advocate in 1994 at a time the magazine was often attacked by Alliance générale contre le racisme et pour le respect de l'identité française et chrétienne (AGRIF) for anti-clericalism and by Front National.

He remained close to the people at the magazine.

As lawyer he started to work for Georges Kiejman and started his own law firm in 1999.

He often featured in emblematic trials and current social debates: the fight for the right to blasphemy, the defense of Charlie Hebdo in the trial regarding the caricatures of Muhammad, the defense of the Center of Contemporary Art's Director in the trial regarding the diffusion of pornographic images of minors in the course of the Présumés innocents exhibit, the defense of the motion picture on the terrorist Carlos made by Daniel Leconte and Olivier Assayas.

As lawyer Malka in 2007 successfully defended Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val against charges of racism following the magazine's publication of Mohammad caricatures.

Other clients include Clearstream, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Caroline Fourest.

In 2007, Malka and Kiejman defended Charlie Hebdo's editor Philippe Val in a suit for incitement to racism by Union of Islamic Organisations of France and the Grand Mosque of Paris following the magazine's publication of Muhammad caricatures.

Malka was advocate for the day care center Baby-Loup who fired a woman because she wore hijab in 2008, alleging that the hijab violated the center's secular nature.

In 2010 Malka defended his prior boss Kiejman in a defamation suit brought by Olivier Metzner and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.

Kiejman, who advocate for Liliane Bettencourt in the Bettencourt affair had accused Metzner, who was advocate for Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers; of being the brain behind a plot against Liliane Bettencourt.

Malka was born in the 11th arrondissement of Paris to Jewish parents from Morocco.

His father was a tailor, his mother a housewife and he has two brothers.

In 2011 the court found Kiejman's words were defamatory, but that they were stated in good faith and Kiejman was acquitted of wrongdoing.

Malka worked as an advocate for Clearstream in the Clearstream affair where Clearstream sued investigating journalist Denis Robert for libel.

Robert was eventually cleared of all charges.

In 2011, Malka was hired by Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Anne Sinclair to take various legal actions against various media regarding the Carlton affair and related issues.

The Court of Cassation in 2014 ruled that the center was within its right to fire the employee.

In 2014 Malka defended Carla Bruni in her trial against Patrick Buisson, former counselor of President Nicolas Sarkozy, regarding illegal recordings.

For the National Organization of Publishers, he published a book entitled La gratuité, c’est le vol – 2015 : la fin du droit d’auteur ? and gave away 50 000 copies.

The book was published with the support of the National Organization of Publishers, in the course of a battlet against a reform project of author's rights brought by the European Union.

Malka worked as an attorney for the nutritionist Jean-Michel Cohen in his lawsuit against Dr Pierre Dukan.

He also worked for Marek Halter, for whom he obtained the conviction of former French Minister of Justice Rachida Dati for defamatory statements.

In 2015 he supported former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls in his trial against the humorist Dieudonné.

In 2015 Strauss-Kahn was acquitted.

In 2015 Malka featured in the trial of businessman Beny Steinmetz against the French newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné.

Malka said Dieudonné belonged "in an asylum" and this statement brought him a conviction for public abuse in July 2016.

In 2016 he worked as an attorney for Mohamed Louizi in his trial against the Union of Islamic Organizations of France regarding his book entitled Pourquoi j’ai quitté les Frères Musulmans.

Louizi was acquitted.

In 2016 he worked as a lawyer for the French essayist Pascal Bruckner, who has been sued twice for defamatory statements on two associations: Les Indigènes de la République and Les Indivisibles.

Bruckner was acquitted.

In 2016 Malka worked as Martin d’Orgeval's lawyer, partner of François-Marie Banier.

Both of them were sued for weakness abuse in the Bettencourt affair.

On 24 May in the appeal trial he stood out in court with his argument.

He obtained a prison and financial redemption dismissal for his client.

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He appealed his sentence and was acquitted by the Court of Appeal of Paris on 6 July 2017.

In 2017 he featured in the Paris criminal court alongside fellow lawyer Eric Dupond-Moretti in order to defend Amina Friloux, accused of poisoning her husband.

Friloux was acquitted.