About

Formed in 1920, the administrative body for tennis in France, the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), employs a legal team consisting of five staff dedicated to protecting the non-profit organisation and helping it achieve its mission statement of developing the game of tennis in France. The team is known as a true example of a commercially-focused legal function in close contact with key strategic decision makers in the organisation. In addition to the work pertaining to its licences and administration of tennis clubs across the country, the FFT has a number of important agreements with regards to tournaments, broadcasting rights and the involvement in international events of French tennis teams. Emilie Montané is the director of media and production, a role entailing several legal aspects, including leading the team on its mandate that involves dealing with legal and commercial aspects including hospitality tenders, image and author rights and brand trademarks, all while communicating with journalists and negotiating with betting institutions. Montané herself was included in the GC Powerlist: France in 2016, highlighting her personal skill; but the wider legal team is of equal quality and produces fantastic results for the company. Striving to work in conjunction with the FFT’s commercial team as closely as possible, Montané explains that in contrast to externally-appointed lawyers, ‘we have a real perspective on strategy and we don’t make decisions the same way. Having in-house personnel even for small companies is advised and should not be seen as a cost’.