I will set out, in this short essay, the reasons the Maison declines applications, what an introduction from a current member is understood to signal, what is asked of the sponsoring member, and what a new member should expect of the relationship in its first year. I am writing this myself, in the first person, because the answers to these questions are, in the end, mine to give.
The Maison declines applications because the relationship the house is in a position to offer is not, in honesty, a relationship that can be entered into on the basis of an applicant's interest in being admitted. The relationship is, on our side, a serious commitment of time, attention, and discretion, conducted over decades. We are not in a position to extend it on the basis of materials assembled by the applicant himself. We extend it on the basis of an introduction made by a person whose judgment we have come to trust.
An introduction is understood to signal, in the first place, that the sponsoring member is willing to stand behind the introduction. The sponsoring member is, in our practice, asked to write a brief account of why the introduction is being made, and is then expected to remain available, over the early period of the relationship, in the event that questions arise. The introduction is, in this sense, a continuing matter rather than a single act. We have, on occasion, declined an introduction not because the proposed member was unsuitable but because the sponsoring member did not appear prepared to stand behind it in the manner required.
What is asked of the new member, in the first year, is principally a willingness to be known by the partners with whose offices he is most likely to work. The Maison's working method depends on the partners' developing, over time, a real understanding of the members they serve. The first year is, for both the member and the house, a period in which that understanding is established. We do not expect transactions in the first year. We expect conversations.
The reader who has come to this essay in the hope that it will describe the route by which an introduction can be sought is owed, in fairness, a direct answer. The route does not exist. The introductions by which the Maison's membership grows are introductions made by members at their own initiative, in their own time, and on the basis of their own judgment. We do not solicit them, and we do not accept their solicitation by other means.
— Élodie Marchand-Auvelle, Maison Director