It would be nice to know, for legal translations, what country the source text comes from, but "candidate" is a translation of "postulant".

exp. en ressources humaines

From the definition below, I think a close US equivalent would be "admitted to practice," which refers to having passed a state or federal bar exam which qualifies the attorney to practice before courts in that state or federal jurisdiction.

From http://www.immolegal.com/glossaire/Glo_P.htm#POSTULANT:

POSTULANT

Certaines professions juridiques ont le monopole de la représentation des plaidants devant les tribunaux, sur un certain espace territorial. On dit qu’elles ont le monopole de la postulation. Notamment en France, les Avoués et les Avocats.
Dans le titre des Avocats, il est donc courant de trouver la mention «postulant près le Tribunal de Grande Instance de...).

See also: http://www.simons-law.com/e/lb_f_e.htm

ie this is the lawyer that's representing the claimant.
HTH
Mary

Of course I meant to say "context", not "contest":)

This is a very specific term to describe a very particular situation. This concerns what legal beagles refer to as "rights of audience". They determine which type of lawyer can represent clients in a given type of court, in a particular type of case etc. The additional feature here in relation to the English system anyway, is that there are geographical/administrative restrictions to those rights of audience in France. French “avocats” can only represent clients of the “bar” to which they are attached. If an “avocat” is acting for a client involved in a case which takes him beyond the courts in which he has rights of audience, then a colleague from the “bar” concerned has to be instructed. He is referred to as the “avocat postulant”.

http://www.cyber-avocat.com/rubriques/tribunaux/honoraires.h...
L'avocat a le droit de plaider sur tout le territoire français. Devant le tribunal de grande instance, si il est d'un autre barreau, il sera parfois obligé de s'attacher les services d'un avocat du lieu où se plaide votre affaire, que l'on appelle alors un avocat postulant et qui se chargera de déposer les actes de procédure. En principe cela ne devrait pas augmenter vos frais car les honoraires de postulation entrent dans les dépens. Que ce soit votre avocat ou le postulant, le montant est le même.

http://www.mieuxvivre.fr/consommation/99/main.htm
Postulant : Lorsque l’avocat que l’on choisit engage une procédure dans le ressort d’un autre barreau que le sien, il doit prendre sur place un avocat postulant. Les avocats ne peuvent postuler que devant le tribunal de grande instance du ressort de leur barreau.

For practical and economic reasons, the same thing does happen in England anyway.

This has nothing to do with a candidate. It has everything to do with the very strict rules of rights of audience. Each French "avocat" is attached to a specific "bar" and cannot plead in courts which are outside his sector. Where this turns out to be necessary, when X has been instructed by his client, and the case takes him outside of his sector, then X has to instruct B to act. B is the "avocat postulant".

Lawyer yes, cousnel instructed to act, yes. Candidate, certainly not.