Clifford Chance
After more than a decade with Clifford Chance in London and Paris, Alexandra went on to help a global insurance firm make major acquisitions.
As a London trainee joining Clifford Chance in 1999, Alexandra soon found her feet, helped by a passion for hockey which saw her representing the firm against other legal teams. She explains it was not only great fun but was also "a good way of meeting people from all areas of the firm, many of whom I’m still in touch with today".
Another high point was her training seat in Paris, which only confirmed her love of France, a country she had got to know as a child during family holidays. Qualifying into the London Corporate M&A practice, she enjoyed the intensity and teamwork of such transactions, as well as the way they tied into other interesting areas of law, from tax and employment to intellectual property.
“When you're in a law firm you don't see… how it impacts the business.”
In 2003 she joined the firm's Paris office, enjoying the added responsibility that came with being part of a smaller team. She advised on a string of major international deals, including Kraft's 2007 acquisition of Danone’s biscuit business and was promoted to Counsel. Fast forward to 2013 and Alexandra was considering an in-house role because "when you're in a law firm you don't see the whole scope of the deal and how it impacts the business".
A brief secondment in 2013 at global beauty firm L'Oreal reinforced her desire to go in-house, but she knew it would take time to find the right, Paris-based role that would play to her international strengths.
“I got to know a lot of people in different areas very quickly.”
At that time Alexandra had two very small children, so she decided to take a step back to focus on her family and consider her options, leaving Clifford Chance in 2014 to act as a support lawyer at another law firm. Then in 2016, the right opportunity came up in the shape of French multinational insurance firm AXA, which has over 150,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Initially, her role involved taking on strategic projects, from technology start-ups to joint ventures, which she explains "was brilliant because I got to know a lot of people in different areas very quickly".
She stepped up to her current position as Head of M&A Group Legal shortly before AXA embarked on a $15bn US takeover of the insurer XL Group in 2018. She highlights how being in-house gave her a much broader and deeper involvement in the deal: "We talked about it, accelerated it and did the acquisition. Then we did all the integration, and now we’re seeing that deliver".
Despite the size of AXA’s operations, Alexandra manages a relatively small and expert team of six. "It’s challenging because you’re managing very able and motivated people, so you need to make sure that they're getting the level of work and responsibility that goes with that," she adds.
COVID-19 has seen Alexandra switch her attention from M&A to help out with other AXA priorities, from examining exposure and risks related to the pandemic, to reviewing crisis management and guarding against cyber-attacks.
“As a woman, I think you have to sell yourself.”
Alexandra is still in contact with Clifford Chance, both as an advisor and through the firm's alumni network. She values the firm’s international reach and its deep knowledge of the insurance sector. She explains how she always looks forward to the Paris alumni event and that it was sorely missed because of the pandemic.
Her advice to her younger self would be that “as a woman, I think you have to sell yourself and not be afraid to put yourself forward”. She also sees the potential of technology and in particular AI to free future lawyers up to focus on what they do best. In Alexandra’s case, that could mean more time for more deals in the years ahead.
