How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

Regarding periods of instability or crises subject, I think legal strategy shall be considered at two levels: upstream and when crises occur.

Firstly, I think that the main mission of Legal is to anticipate. Of course it is impossible to anticipate specifics crises. But it is necessary to organise, at least, some guidelines, some secure clauses in agreements. Thus, when a crise occurs, it could limit its impact on the business. For example, when the Subprime crise occurred, the company in which I was General Counsel, was at the same time client and provider to Lehman. As a compensation clause was negotiated in an agreement, we could apply it and the financial impact for us, was very reduced. So writing clauses, securing situations with a legal approach, is very important. Of course, it could create some discussions with business teams which could consider that it is not important at the time of signing a business. But it is our role to explain them the importance of such legal guidelines; and legal teams should be very pedagogic to make business teams subscribe.

Then, during periods of instability or crises, legal department shall have a strategically approach to help the business and secure its environment which is upset. Indeed, in such periods, business teams could be destabilised because clients would cancel or resign agreements. So, it is very important that we give them secure answers and use legal strategies to help them.

For example, at the beginning of the Covid Crisis, many customers wanted to resign agreements and IT services that we were furnishing to them. My first approach was to reassure our business teams, explaining them that conditions were negotiated withing agreements with their clients, and that they should respect some undertaking they had with us. In addition, I tried to find solutions, and new strategies in order to combinate the constraints due to the crise, and the business activity. Negotiating with clients, signing amendments, and finding new solutions, new legal strategy, was very important to find another way to have a business strategy.

When periods of instability or crises occur, it is essential that business and legal have a common approach ; it would secure the business, by relying on solid and reliable bases. Following laws and legal guidelines could give some reliable reference points to business people. In addition, it could permit to create new strategies, by creating companies or consortium, doing M&A, negotiating new agreements, etc. And finally, it is a way to develop business even in period of crise.

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

AUBAY’s approach to sustainability and our commitment to social responsibility are an integral part of our Group strategy. Some recognitions were delivered to AUBAY as Ecovadis, AFAQ, Happy Trainees, Caelum, CDP, EthiFinance, etc.

As General Counsel, my contribution to sustainability practices, occurs in three areas: Compliance of our subcontractors to tax regulation and prevention of undeclared work; Anti-bribery; and GDPR. Firstly, I impose to our partners to respect sustainability practices and to comply with laws, in the agreements signed with them. To ensure such respect, audits are frequently doing. For example, each month, the legal department reviews the documentation furnished by all the subcontractors which work with AUBAY, in order to check if such documentations are in accordance with Vigilance regulation and if they are compliant with tax regulations and the legal provisions for the prevention and punishment of undeclared work.

In addition, as Aubay is submitted to Sapin 2 Law, I am in charge to organise and ensure respect of the anti-bribery regulation. Thus, I wrote a code of conduct, which details all the obligations required to our employees and subcontractors. After having defined a risk map and trained “sensible” employees in France and in each AUBAY’s subsidiaries, I organised a secure system in order to permit whistle-blower to disclose any violation of the anti-bribery regulation, with confidentiality and anonymously.

Aubay considers that security and protection of personal data, is essential. In 2013, Aubay made a commitment to the Global Compact to respect the privacy and rights of individuals whose data is processed by its IT system. And following the implementation of the GDPR, I was appointed as Data Protection Officer. As such, my role is currently to be the guarantor of compliance in terms of the rights of individuals regarding the processing of the personal data ; and more generally, of the obligations incumbent on Aubay regarding GDPR, as data controller and as subcontractor of its clients.

As DPO, my function is, in particular: establishing procedures concerning the rights of individuals (right to information, collection of consent, right of opposition, access, rectification and deletion); keeping registers of processing operations involving personal data, both for processing carried out by Aubay and for those subcontracted by its clients in the context of services; tightening data access controls; doing privacy impact assessments to evaluate the risk in case of a security incident; management of data retention periods, with deletion of data upon the legal deadlines; training employees to the security of personal data protection; and reviewing policies of security and supplier Charters, including the scope of subcontractor audits.