Grandes Ecoles au femme and associate lawyer at Ashurst, she advocates for inclusiveness.
Wake up time? 6:45 a.m. If my three kids let me sleep in…
The height of your position. A specialist in commercial litigation, I help companies overcome these difficult times when business life does not go their way and guide them through alternative methods of conflict resolution.
The results should be given here and now. Ashurst celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, has 3,866 employees in 30 offices worldwide (ie 486 partners, including 20 in Paris) and generates a turnover of €924 million.
If we go back to the roots. The last of three brothers, with a Catholic upbringing. Traditional fundamental values—integrity, loyalty, the other—were actually at the center of the device, but freed from codes. You had to know them to know how to get rid of them.
Turning point. My brother integrated literary training. Looking at his work, I said to myself. “I’d rather go to college and have coffee.” My parents trusted me, and they were right. Responsibility is fundamental.
Stereotypes imprison men and women from which anyone can escape
Course Accelerator. After completing my Master of Laws at Assas and HEC, I was doing a six-month internship at the Gide law firm in Brussels in competition law when I lost my father. At the same time, the team took me to the Court of First Instance of the European Communities. I was fascinated by the complex audience, the exchange, the stakes and the strategy created. This was fundamental for me, at a time when I could have moved on to something else.
One or more mentors. Nobody. I rather built and stocked my line with counter models.
Obstacles on the way. After working in the first cabinet for twelve years, I could not fully occupy my place, I realized that I was covered. That I would develop somewhere else. I decided to leave and came to Ashurst in 2018 with carte blanche to build a team. It gave me the ability to bounce back and insane flexibility.
Who trusted you? At that very moment, a client followed me and transferred a very important file when I was 36 years old and not yet a partner.
What would you like to convey? When I joined the Grandes écoles au feminine (GEF) network in 2014, I became aware of a situation of inequality that I had not experienced myself. Four years later, I was elected president, and while society is now more enlightened, the GEF creates a whole ecosystem (meetings and support for women’s entrepreneurship) to take concrete actions. Taking an inclusive approach to everything I do and injecting this dynamic into my professional environment, which is still quite conservative, is my goal.
A thought that sets you free. Stereotypes limit men and women. It will be successful for everyone to come out of it. There are men for whom it is difficult to be masculine, and who will be happier if they can express their complex.
Digital addiction? I compulsively check my emails. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up, it’s a bit sad…
When are you offline? When I sleep
Defining your influence. It can be positive and reveal the other, or negative and inhibit the other. I prefer the first.
Source: Le Figaro
