About

Achieving a meteoric rise within the company he joined in 2008, by 2011 Matthieu Bernat was made responsible for the management of a team and in 2014 became the managing counsel for Europe at Renault Group. Assuming these responsibilities in such a short amount of time provides evidence of the way the business sees Bernat as a trusted player within the Group’s endeavours throughout Europe. His first actions in his current role were to change the lawyers’ time allegiance from administrative formalities to focus on important projects with high stakes. He streamlined the department so that the legal secretariat of all French subsidiaries, comprising around 100 companies, were outsourced to a law firm with fixed fees. From there onwards legal has been able to dedicate time to files that change the commercial outlook of the company, whilst also nurturing relations with the commercial subdivisions. Bernat pioneered a Legal steering committee with Daimler and Nissan, two strategic partners of Renault, bringing legal conformity between them. Such an innovative move provides a platform to share common issues on projects such a vehicle development programs, while allowing for real-time updates on major transactions. This move has helped shape the premeditated course of some of Renault’s accomplishments. In 2012 Bernat and the deputy general counsel were at the frontline for the acquisition of Russian carmaker AvtoVaz, manoeuvring the deal through a complex web of facts such as the target being a listed company and the buyers, Renault and Nissan, acting jointly. Both internal clients and external team members have praised the efforts made by Bernat during this deal. Displaying an ability to handle several complex issues on different projects at the same time, Bernat proves time and again his versatility and poise with complex legal matters.