After returning to private practice during the Second French Empire he successfully defended Gustave Flaubert in an action against his Madame Bovary.

He resigned this position and ran successfully for election on 23 April 1848 to represent Seine-Inférieure in the Constituent Assembly.

[1] His attempts to make Cavaignac the official candidate in the December 1848 presidential elections caused a cabinet crisis.

[1] Sénard defended Gustave Flaubert and Léon Laurent-Pichat from charges of damaging public morals by writing and publishing Madame Bovary, and won their acquittal in 1857.

[5] After the Franco-Prussian War began, on 4 September 1870 the Government of National Defense sent Sénard on a mission to Florence to obtain support for France in Italy, and to seek clarification on the separatist movement that seemed to be planned for Nice.

He formally congratulated King Victor Emmanuel on the occupation of Rome by Piedmontese troops and the unification of Italy, but did not obtain satisfaction on the question of Nice.