As head of legal for idverde – a European leader in landscape construction projects and grounds maintenance services based in the UK and France – Agnès Bardel regularly proves her expertise on legal matters related to fast-moving and complex industry affairs.

Starting her in-house legal career at noted French publisher Le Figaro in 2003, Bardel has since amassed a wide range of experience spanning several different sectors including the railway industry, during a position at Euro Cargo Rail (ECR), a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn and the first private railway undertaking in France. When starting this role in 2009, she was charged with implementing the legal department, organising ‘necessary internal processes and training’ as well as ‘dramatically’ downsizing the monetary expenditure on external law firms by securing the handling of all legal matters (except litigation) in-house.

In 2012 Bardel was accredited for her work against the French state-owned railway utility SNCF for its abuse of a dominant position, an award granted by the French Competition Authority. The potential success of this case was doubted by many in the industry owing to several difficulties, however Bardel says it was ‘a surprise for everybody and a great satisfaction for myself’ to affect proceedings so successfully. In a demonstrable display of business-affecting work, Bardel’s efforts in litigation presented before regulatory authorities have ‘opened the gates of the rail freight market to competition and have formed a strategy that defends the rights of new entrants’.

In terms of her current role, she states that this has forced her to develop new skills ‘in public law and namely public market law. [Bardel] adapted once more to a new activity – landscaping – already by training the operationals and implementing best practices to limit the company’s liability’. Explaining the internal recognition achieved thanks to this success, a source states: ‘The general management of idverde acknowledges the legal department has now moved to a professional path and has also gained in reactivity. Finding practical solutions and training operationals in order to limit risks and saving money for idverde are just a few of Bardel’s strong points’.