About

Delphine Jacquemont has held the combined function of general counsel gas, since 2008, and deputy general counsel international since 2015. She first joined EDF in 1991 to negotiate contracts for loans, bond issues and to work on project finance and acquisitions. Having evolved through various legal functions with the group she was also posted in Italy and Poland, locations where the group was showing potential growth ambitions and would need legal support. She is known internally for the introduction divisional competence through training and recruitment of expert lawyers on issues relating to gas when it was still a new topic for the company, making the transition to new activities much easier and fruitful for EDF. This legal function now operates on all links of the gas chain and accompanies the commercial and engineering aspects of all project development phases. In 2012 Jacquemont created the “golden rules” used to guide internal negotiations, describing the points that negotiators must obtain or refuse; these rules have been validated by senior members and have become a repository used by all the group’s companies. She has accompanied EDF on long legal journeys where, within a team, they have succeeded in ensuring that the company obtains the important rights and protections it needs to commercially move forward, some involving different jurisdictions. ‘When I joined EDF more than 20 years ago the lawyers were confined to administrative tasks or reduced to manage disputes. Imposing the role of an in-house lawyer as a useful partner to the business was a challenge in a company essentially made up of engineers!’ She has redefined the legal role in EDF and when asked what she enjoys most about her role, Jacquemont says: ‘influencing strategic decisions and sharing her expertise and passion with her team’.