Team size:  70

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

We are currently engaged in a landmark and unprecedented antitrust case in France that is also being prosecuted before the criminal court. This dual-track proceeding raises several complex legal issues, including potential violations of the principle of double jeopardy, due process concerns, the scope of defense rights, the status of legal privilege, and various procedural and substantive law questions. Multiple motions and appeals are pending, and the matter may ultimately be brought before France’s highest courts.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

To efficiently manage legal matters during challenging periods and ensure alignment between the legal strategy and the overall business strategy, I rely on the following three principles:

Anticipate: While crises cannot always be predicted, it is essential to detect “weak signals” early on. To achieve this, I ensure that my team closely monitors and tracks new legislation, emerging trends, and potential issues that could affect the company.

Prepare: It is vital to establish the right procedures, policies, and tools that enable immediate and effective responses to unexpected events. For instance, I have implemented and distributed “dawn raid checklists” across all key company sites that could potentially be visited by law enforcement authorities, ensuring readiness and consistency in our reactions.

Report: Maintaining alignment with the Board, Audit Committee, CEO, and C-suite must never be overlooked, even in the face of urgent or severe situations. This involves regular updates and reporting to these governance and executive bodies—not only once an issue arises. I ensure they are kept informed of and endorse compliance and crisis management programmes, and I escalate any significant matter promptly and transparently.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?

I strongly believe that sustainability is an area no General Counsel can afford to overlook. We are witnessing a paradigm shift, with ESG evolving from a matter of “soft law” to one increasingly rooted in “hard law”. A multitude of new regulations—particularly at the EU level—are emerging, becoming ever more complex and exposing businesses to significant judicial and reputational risks. These developments are also drawing heightened attention from CEOs, Boards, and shareholders, and demand strong legal expertise. At the same time, ESG presents an excellent opportunity for General Counsels to shine and gain greater visibility among both internal and external stakeholders.

In line with this, I have initiated a genuine cultural transformation at Sonepar—a privately held company traditionally rather discreet—by, among other actions, publishing our first CSR Report in 2022, having our non-financial report audited by an independent third party, and establishing a dedicated CSR task force to ensure compliance with the CSRD and other CSR-related regulations.  

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance? 

For reasons of both cost efficiency and operational effectiveness, we aim to internalise as much legal work as possible. Nevertheless, we regularly engage external counsel when necessary. This typically occurs when we require expertise that is not available in-house, need to compensate for limited internal capacity, wish to challenge our own assessments in complex or uncertain matters, or seek additional reassurance for our governance bodies.

Our assessment of external lawyers extends beyond the quality of their deliverables and fee structures. We also take into account their ability to quickly understand our operational realities and constraints, their interpersonal skills—since we work diligently and value collaboration with professionals who are not only competent but also enjoyable to work with—the level of partner involvement, and their commitment to cost optimisation. Increasingly, we also consider factors such as cybersecurity and data sovereignty.