Lawyers are often lawyers in commercial contracts law.
In some cases, lawyers can take on the role of Project Manager or a person can take on this position. In some groups there are legal coordinators.
In the group for which I worked, I joined the Legal & Compliance Department as legal coordinator for Continental Europe, and project manager for Continental Europe, and finally as Corporate Compliance manager wordwide.
The British group had subsidiaries worldwide.
I managed several projects, including the largest, Company Secretariat (management of legal obligations of companies) of 48 companies in 28 countries.
The main project was divided into sub-projects:
● Legal watch involving the implementation of various procedures (for example Directors' liabilities),
● Updating the Blueprint database,
● Maintening Company secretary books,
● Governance: organization of board and general meetings for the change of directors, approval of the annual accounts, company incorporations, acquisitions and sales, mergers following acquisitions, liquidation of companies, etc.,
● Project work and strategic transactions: implementing strategic transactions and corporate restructuring tax planning, intra group reorganisations, capital injections, etc.
In the field of Company secretariat the concept of "one country - one legislation - one language" involves working with an external legal firm in each country. Indeed, most of the time, the minutes of board and general meetings have to be written in the language and the law of the country concerned. A lawyer in French may write documents for France, but will have to ask a local law firm to draft legal documents for foreign subsidiaries.
I also worked on pan-European, Middle Eastern and African projects, such as:
♦ Administrative Management of companies pending liquidation and companies having their registered address with a law firm,
♦ Managing External law firms and associated Budget,
♦ Organization of sites closure,
♦ Organization of the transfer of the Company secretariat work to an External administrator for all the companies of the group,
♦ Supporting various departments outside of France: Finance, Taxation, Real Estate, Regulatory Affairs, Treasury and Human Resources. For example, the interface with the French tax authorities, tax audits, etc.,
♦ Implementation and management of a contracts database: virtual on the intranet and physical in the offices,
♦ Data Protection, Intellectual Property.
Teamworking is very important. It is therefore necessary to cultivate a good relationship with internal colleagues and external service providers. For example, the approval of the annual accounts requires the involvement of several departments of a company: Finance, Tax, etc., and external service providers such as auditors. In this case, the Project Manager has the role of conductor and legitimate his position in the Legal & Compliance Department of an International group, and by extension in a Law Firm and a Consulting and Audit Firm.
Legal Director and lawyers can then focus on their core business and be free of administrative work.
Finally, practise English allowed me to develop relationships with all stakeholders of this International ecosystem.
My role and my position close to the management teams of the various subsidiaries were giving me access to confidential and strategic information and were forcing me to respect rules of total confidentiality.
My rigour, my capacity for analysis and synthesis of complex projects have allowed me to control timely legal issues in a multicultural environment. My empathy, my listening skills and my adaptability were additional assets.
About the author:
Patricia Foucaud, Project Manager in an International Legal & Compliance Department ; based in Paris.
14 years of International experience in a British group and a multicultural environment.
Expert in Company secretariat (management of legal obligations of companies) in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Project Management and Administrative Management (Office management).
Contact:
Email: patriciafoucaud92@gmail.com
Mobile: +33 (0)6 61 61 91 33
