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The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance, primarily operating in France, Europe, Asia, AXA XL, and international, with four main operating activities in property and casualty, life and savings, health, and asset management. In 2022, the AXA Group had revenue of €102bn, underlying earnings of €7.3bn, 93 million customers and a workforce comprising 145,000 employees.

Helen Browne, the current general counsel of the AXA Group, is also a member of the AXA SA Board and the management committee. She took up the role in 2016 and heads a professional family of over 500 lawyers.

Helen is credited with overseeing the acquisition of XL for €12.4 billion and the parallel IPO of AXA Equitable $4bn in 2018, leading to the transformation of AXA into the leading global P&C commercial lines insurer under the leadership of Thomas Buberl, the newly appointed CEO. She also oversaw 22 international acquisitions and disposals since 2016 with a total value of €14bn in acquisitions and €14.3 billion in disposals over the 2016-2020 strategic plan. Recent deals include the acquisitions of Groupama Turkey (€50m), Credit Mutuel Spain (€310m) and Laya Healthcare, Ireland (€650m).

Helen is credited for her work on innovative insurance projects, including incubators, startup projects and reinsurance deals as well as being at the forefront of the implementation of AXA’s leading sustainability strategy.

A champion of diversity, she is widely recognised as heading one of the best in-house teams in France.

In conversation with…

What are some of your main tips for dealing with a crisis?  

It is vital for senior management team to know and trust each other before the onset of a crisis, to be able to work jointly, swiftly, efficiently when an inevitable crisis hits.

The ability to navigate the organisation building on past experience to enable fast and pertinent communication and clear practical advice on potential repercussions is key in such a situation.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in France over the next five-ten years? 

I believe that the general counsel role will continue to evolve to be part of a group of key decision makers in times of strategic transformation and crisis, each of which will become more frequent in most organisations in a macroeconomic and political context that is also in transformation.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry? 

Corporate legal team will need to not only to give high quality BAU advice, but also constantly adapt to new areas of law such as AI, cybersecurity, and sustainability matters. In each of these areas, we are experiencing a deluge of regulations, and all corporate lawyers will need to integrate these changes in their practice areas.

Key skills needed will include smart senior lawyers that can provide fast and practical advice by cutting to the essential issues raised by complex regulators and agile lawyers who desire to continuously learn new areas of law to be able to support their businesses in adapting to an ever-changing environment.