Contrary to the expectations of some who knew him at the time, he studied law, however, and pursued a lucrative career as a lawyer between 1964 and 1975, practicing as a successful advocate at the Namur Bar.

However, rather than staying to argue his case with the judges he took an opportunity to step into his red MG and escape to France,[2] moving on later to Catalonia and then to the Aosta Valley.

[5] He nevertheless resisted any temptation to return to his career as a lawyer, explaining that his clash with the judiciary had given him an opportunity to escape, and the magistrates who had sentenced him to a prison had in a sense done him a favour, because they had given him the opening to live an unconventional live-style.

As a further tribute to the locality he became the "director" of a literary series entitled "Lettres du Cabardès" which was produced by the publishing house Le Temps qu'il fait.

[10] During his later years Pirotte lived with the translator and fellow author Sylvie Doizelet in the French Jura, till 2009 at Arbois, and subsequently across the frontier, at Beurnevésin.