Sophie Gelbert’s first move upon graduating from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne Law University in 1984 was to COFACE where, in what would prove to be symbolic of the ultimate direction her legal career would take, she gained her first professional experience in dealing with aeronautical contracts as part of a highly successful period with the company.

Another highly fruitful, 19-year tenure at Thales followed – she mentions her role as general counsel in charge of antitrust and regulatory for the Group from 1995 onwards as a particular career highlight – before moving to France’s flag carrier Air France in 2010. She has been in the role of general counsel and secretary of the board here since 2014. Gelbert’s impressive body of experience in a variety of areas is invaluable to Air France, she says: ‘Regulations get stricter and stricter, and the issues and their consequences more and more significant over time. Antitrust and anticorruption regulations, for instance, can be financially highly damageable, and they can also severely damage the company’s image and reputation.

Relating directly to the CEO and the company’s high-ranking managers ensures my legal expertise has a great impact’. Indeed, she lists efforts to ‘formalise, set up and promote compliance within the company’ as among her main objectives over the past two years, and has selected and provided instructions to a new dedicated compliance officer to achieve this. ‘As a result’, she says, ‘within a year compliance has been understood and implemented within the Group and the function is now formalised, sustainable and generally accepted’. Alongside this, she has pioneered new digital tools and teleworking techniques within the team, and has coached the lawyers within her legal function to ‘understand that our mission is not simply to be merely an expert but to constantly keep in mind the company’s economic , political and technical environment’ at all times.

Gelbert considers it an ‘honour’ to work for Air France and its highly qualified legal team which she cannot praise highly enough: ‘Without a valuable team and the proper management of it, a general counsel cannot achieve his or her mission. Considering the specificities of the industry and its sensitive challenges, the Air France legal team lawyers are experts in their fields, are highly adaptable to unforeseen circumstances and able to propose creative solutions. I am very proud of my team’.