Geraldine Hivert-de Grandi was appointed general counsel of Séché Environnement, a newly created position, in early 2016. Her role has been to set up and implement a business orientated legal department including all aspects of the function with a specific focus on recent laws. She is responsible for managing on behalf of the company M&A operations in France and in foreign countries, and has been instrumental to significant acquisitions in France, Spain and Latin America.

Prior to this role she worked for ALSTOM’s corporate legal department after taking over in 2011 in the position of group disputes resolution director, leading her team to shape the strategy of defence in complex cases for the group. The scope included a broad range of arbitration and litigation, in particular anti-competition cases before the European authorities and foreign jurisdictions such as the UK, the Netherlands, Israel, Brazil and Hungary. In addition to this, she implemented the strategy of compliance cases linked to international investigations and anti-corruption matters relating to the FCPA in the US and the BA in the UK, as well as having an impact on arbitration cases held in various countries like Switzerland and China.

She started her career as an international business lawyer in the oil and gas industry with Bouygues offshore and Saipem. She also had a stint in the Alstom nuclear business before being promoted to the corporate department of Alstom. During her career she negotiated international oil and gas matters as well as nuclear construction contracts for major clients like Total, Shell, Agip, Chevron, BP, Exxon, EDF, Suez and Eskom. Hivert-de Grandi is regularly a guest lecturer in various forums, with a focus on topics regarding compliance, anticorruption and competition law where she has a specific in-house and international practice to share with other experts.