Michel Mercier (born 7 March 1947) is a French politician and who served as Minister of Justice from 2010 until 2012. After studying law and graduation from the Lyon IEP, he taught finance and local government law at the Faculty of Law of Lyon III.Elected Senator from the Rhône on 24 September 1995, he was the right's official candidate in the municipal elections in 2001 in Lyon, incumbent Mayor Raymond Barre having refused to run for re-election.