Franck Raimbault’s labour law expertise has manifested itself both academically and professionally at the highest levels. Academically, he has gained a PhD focusing specifically on labour law and has operated as a lecturer at a number of universities and business schools around France. Professionally, he has been a labour law specialist with Air France since 1995, and has built a formidable reputation in the area since then; by 1999 he was vice president in charge of labour litigation, and in 2007 after his function was transferred to the HR segment of the company he became senior vice president HR Legal; he is now in charge of all legal matters for Air France’s HR operations.

Given the vast number of employees and the variety and complexity of roles among them, as well as the prominence of some of the labour disputes the company has been involved in (including the October 2015 incident where Air France employees assaulted their superiors, which he states meant that he had ‘to deal with many procedures and litigations, as well as social pressure and extreme media exposure’), Raimbault can be said to be among the foremost practitioners of labour law within the French in-house legal community. Alongside the October 2015 incident, Raimbault mentions his work on a criminal trial involving an Air France employee as another important project which gives some insight as to the extreme variety of work he engages in: ‘Another very important case was a criminal trial involving an Air France deputy station manager at Caracas airport, unfairly prosecuted for drug trafficking and held in jail for four years. After years of efforts with French and Venezuelan lawyers, we assisted to have him found innocent and he was released’.

An individual who has not only reached the top of his profession, but enjoys his work (describing it as ‘thrilling and exciting’), Raimbault advises other prospective in-house lawyers to be ‘inquisitive, committed and to trust and empower your collaborators, because this is the best way to save some time for reflection and innovation’.