Antoine Genevois began his legal career in 2000 at Thales Group, where he provided support to set up the company’s compliance program and the litigation associated with the sale of defence frigates to Taiwan in the early 1990s. This was achieved in parallel with the preparation of a PhD in business law. In 2003 Genevois moved to the French multinational nuclear power and renewable energy group Areva, and held numerous positions there over the next decade. He started off as a legal counsel for the enrichment business unit Cogema (subsequently renamed as Areva NC, and now Orano). Then Genevois moved to the US where he first served as a legal advisor to the Washington DC based company between 2006 and 2009, before becoming the general counsel for Areva in North America. Upon returning to France in August 2012, he assumed the position of general counsel of the reactors and services business group, Areva NP which became Framatome on 01 January 2018. Since assuming the position, Genevois had to facilitate the sale of Framatome to EDF and structure the legal department to be able to function on a standalone basis. ‘I first had to select all the business lawyers that wanted to follow the “Framatome” adventure and recruit all the “corporate lawyers” on all main specialties of law: compliance, governance and M&A, antitrust, labour, public law, IP, and insurance’, Genevois explains.

‘This structuring had to go with the overall set up of Framatome in order to be ready for the spin-off and sale by 31 December 2017 of Framatome to EDF. It has been an incredible adventure both from a legal standpoint and a management standpoint in order to keep the team fully motivated and involved, and manage the pressure as there was no room for failure’.

On the litigation side, Genevois successfully managed a case in South Africa related to a contract for the supply of steam generators to ESKOM against the company’s competitor, Westinghouse. ‘Westinghouse challenged the contract award granted by ESKOM to Framatome. After two-and-a-half years of litigation, we [won] the case after a decision from the South African Supreme Court,’ he clarifies. Beyond that, Genevois follows case law in Korea, Northern Europe and Canada regarding contract issues, and has successfully settled on disputes with customers and subcontractors in these regions.

In addition, Genevois directly follows ongoing investigations associated with the quality issues that were discovered in Le Creusot, which implies interfacing with the investigations authorities, managing the case towards the management, and supporting company employees that are being interviewed.