Richard Malka currently appears to be playing a major role in the affairs of the satirical magazine after ten of its journalists were killed in a terrorist attack at the Paris offices on Wednesday. Mr Malka was the person who announced to the media that a special edition of the magazine, with a print run of 1 million copies (over 20 times the normal number), will be published next Wednesday. 

Friends with Charlie Hebdo journalists

Mr Malka, of Moroccan origins, has been named as the 15th most powerful lawyer in France by GQ magazine and as one of the 30 most influential people in the media by the same title. His clients have included Carla Bruni, the wife of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund. Mr Malka was known to be very close to the journalists at Charlie Hebdo, a friend as well as an adviser. He began his career working for Georges Kiejman, who was himself the lawyer to former President Francois Mitterand. Source: Grands Avocats and Paris Match