How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

We have tackled this issue in two ways: firstly, through an operational way, which has involved setting up a crisis management team with a director in charge of the issue, an international network of local contacts and training modules; secondly, through a risk prevention way, particularly on the geopolitical dimension, with the internalisation of full-time in-house expertise and regular internal communications to help decision-making.

To ensure that our legal strategy is aligned with the company’s overall strategy, I work with my team to draw up a strategic plan. The objective is to identify our priorities for action (all teams combined), coordinate them and plan them over time. This tool allows us to monitor the progress of projects and adjust our priorities if there is a change in the company’s management. We will use the strategic plan as a marketing tool as well, to explain our roadmap to the general management and our internal clients.

What strategic priorities are guiding you and your team in 2024?

My first priority is to continue the transformation of the branch, began in 2023 through the “Level Up Legal & Compliance” project, which contains three pillars. 

The first one is to achieve operational excellence through expertise with, for example, a new legal counsel job description, a deep work done on the skills, or the future training paths.

The second one is to offer our internal customers the best possible service with the drafting of a standardised and harmonised offer and the mapping of all the tools used by the legal and compliance team members worldwide. The third one is to get to know our customers and measure their level of satisfaction and collaboration for a better partnership and strategic involvement of our branch in the future. 

My second priority is to continue strengthening the international legal and compliance community, by organising meetings in the various countries and regular digital meetings as well. The aim is to create a strong network that responds to a collective dynamic and speaks with a single voice to the challenges facing the company.

Of course, there are other priorities such as digitalising our jobs and defining the operating model best suited to the company and our branch.

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

The legal and compliance department was naturally heavily involved in the company’s partnership with the Olympic and Paralympic Games: drafting and negotiating contracts, designing and manufacturing specific products, anticipating crisis, hospitality issues, etc. Everyone’s commitment to this great project and close cooperation with the operational team enabled the legal and compliance department to demonstrate that it is “part of the business”.