Lagaillarde was a lawyer at Blida in Algeria, a reserve officer of the paratroopers, and an elected deputy of Algiers. He was president of the Association générale des étudiants d'Alger (General Association of Alger's Students) in 1957, and took part in the Alger insurrection of May 1958, which brought Charles de Gaulle back to power.
Lagaillarde was a member of the Comité de salut public which opposed Algerian independence, and occupied the Gouvernement général de l'Algérie (local colonial administration).
^René Monzat, Enquêtes sur la droite extrême, Le Monde-éditions, 1992, p.91. Monzat quotes François Duprat, L'Ascension du MSI, Edition les Sept Couleurs, Paris, 1972.