Taking up the general counsel role at energy giant Total in January 2017, Aurélien Hamelle brought a wealth of high-level experience upon his appointment, having accrued private practice experience in high-profile international and boutique law firms, specialising in dispute resolution amongst other areas. Despite the relatively short period in which he has practiced in-house, Hamelle has amassed a number of highlights already; assisting with leadership on negotiations for Total’s acquisition of Maersk’s oil and gas business segment in 2017. Of this time he claims: ‘Such negotiation was conducted in a very short timeframe, [which] required us to be able to organise various work streams working in parallel, and made me realise how significant it is to be able to make quick decisions on opportunities and risks in order to be able to progress a deal of this magnitude rapidly’.

Hamelle also oversaw the compliance programme for sanctions related issues, of which he states required ‘a lot of discipline in order to be able to help the group and our affiliates operate in certain jurisdictions where international sanctions are still in force’, the end result was a tailor-made compliance program designed to screen ‘every dimension’ of Total’s operations. Hamelle’s ability to affect Total’s business through these has also matched his ability to change things internally for optimal efficiency and harmony.

Firstly, a ‘vigorous’ email downsizing programme has helped increase the frequency of face-to-face meetings having the effect of maintaining ‘trust among lawyers and their clients’, whilst “legal reviews” where managers of the legal department listen to a pending matter or project presentation by the lawyers in charge were also implemented. This was to create ‘collective thinking at all levels of the legal organisation’, whilst a ‘tailored approach to the initial instructions to our outside counsels for significant transactions and matters in order to (i) provide more clarity and, upfront, the relevant documentation to our outside counsels and (ii) to drive costs with more predictability’.

In terms of transactions, his highlights include the aforementioned acquisition of Maersk’s oil and gas business, a further acquisition of Engie’s LNG business unit as well as oversight of the Iran sanctions compliance programme, in addition to an EPC litigation in the Asia Pacific region and a joint venture dispute in the Americas.