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24 hours in the shoes of Hector, legal interim manager: starting the assignment

Reading time : 5 minutes

Episode 1: Day1 of the mission

Hector is a interim manager specializing in business law, mergers & acquisitions and securities law.

Hector's mission: for the 12 months of his contract, he will be the N-1 of the legal director of a major French group, in charge of Corporate Finance and Acquisitions. A key position in a company undergoing rapid external growth. With 6 people in his teams (3 senior lawyers, 2 middle lawyers and 1 junior lawyer), he will also be in direct contact with the CEO, the CFO, the Director of Financial Communications, as well as external lawyers and the various service providers who are supporting the group during this period of strategic acquisitions...

Day 1: 8:40 a.m.

On Monday morning, arriving well ahead of schedule, Hector takes time out for a coffee on the forecourt of La Défense. It was enough to get him in shape for his1st day on the job. As he knows, expectations are high. The departure of the lawyer he's replacing at short notice has not gone well: he'll need to remotivate the teams without wasting any time in bringing to a successful conclusion a major acquisition project for the company. His 12-month assignment - before the legal director of the American BU takes over the post on his return to France - promises to be breathtaking!

Day 1: 9 a.m.

Right on time, Hector goes to reception and asks for Madame Lacroix, the legal director, with whom he has an appointment. He had only met her once, at an interview the previous Wednesday, after a pre-selection carried out by the IMfinity teams. An HR interview the following day to validate his profile and a few soft skills in particular, and by Thursday evening he had signed his contract for his interim management assignment!

Day 1: 9:05 a.m.

On the double, Madame Lacroix offers him a quick tour of the offices and a presentation of all the legal teams. 50 faces to memorize in a few seconds... No one can do the impossible: Hector knows that it will take him some time to associate each one with a name and a function. Nevertheless, this initial overview enables him to capture the moods and moods.

Day 1: 9.10 a.m.

Hector meets his teams: 6 lawyers (3 legal, 2 middle and 1 junior), divided into 2 offices. Quick greetings before discovering his individual office, whose door he decides to leave open most of the time to facilitate his integration and exchanges.

Day 1: 9:15 a.m.

Madame Lacroix and Hector have their first operational exchange in the company cafeteria. The General Counsel has 45 minutes to give her an overview of the situation: the challenges to be met, the mood of the teams, the challenges ahead and, above all, the priorities to be managed. Tomorrow morning, she is due to present a summary of an identified risk to Comex: it concerns one of the sites, located in a country under sanctions, owned by the company being acquired.

Day 1: 10 a.m.

For the first time alone in his office, Hector takes possession of his computer and tries to access his session. It's become a habit on every one of his missions: he doesn't yet have the necessary authorizations! His first call will be to the IT team, to unlock his workstation.

Day 1: 10:05 a.m.

By the time he has gained access to the computer, Hector is sharing a quick coffee with one of the middle lawyers on his team. Madame Lacroix has informed him that this is an extremely competent and qualified profile, who is looking to develop rapidly and learn. He knows he can count on him and takes the opportunity to get to know him better.

Day 1: 10:20 a.m.

Hector finally discovers the files. But how to find his way around? He enlists the help of a senior lawyer to show him the filing nomenclature and company processes.

Day 1: 10:40 a.m.

The director of financial communications comes to introduce himself to Hector. He quickly gets to the heart of the matter. The acquisition in progress is a sensitive subject, and the financial markets are not expecting it, so we'll have to be extremely cautious. The discussion enables him to identify other issues in the situation, which were not expressed in the same way by Ms. Lacroix. This is one of the main challenges of the legal interim manager: to gather all the information, sometimes scattered, in order to obtain a complete overview.

Day 1: 12:30 p.m.

Hector has discreetly made enquiries in the morning: he knows his team's usual lunchtime, and approaches them at just the right moment. Three of them are having lunch on site that day: this will be an opportunity to chat with them more informally and find out more about the atmosphere, the corporate culture, expectations, salaries, projects, strategy, reputation, priorities, etc. A real jumble, which gives a raw but enriching insight!

Day 1: 1:45 p.m.

Hector begins his one-to-one meetings with his team members. A rapid, precise and structured exchange, essential at the start of a mission.

Day 1: 2:15 p.m.

The General Counsel arrives to brief Hector on urgent assignments. The meetings with his team are interrupted to make way for the priority of the day. Madame Lacroix gives Hector a detailed presentation of the issues at stake and the objective of the briefing note he has to produce for the evening: to give an opinion to be presented to Comex on the risks incurred by the presence of this facility in a country under sanctions. The legal director also gives Hector a series of contacts. An intense 1.5 hours which immediately plunges him into the deep end...

Day 1: 3:45 p.m.

Back in his office, Hector gets to work on his briefing note. First, he has to research the country in question, identify any precedents and back it up with facts. He quickly calls one of the company's external lawyers to get his point of view. After a rather cool welcome ("What have you got to do with my case?"), the 2 professionals get to know each other and exchange views freely on this sensitive subject. Hector then had all the cards to write his summary: 2 pages, an executive summary and appendix notes.

Day 1: 6:00 p.m.

The note is e-mailed to the legal director. While waiting for feedback, Hector resumes his one-to-one meetings with his teams.

Day 1: 7.15pm

Hector receives a call from an IMfinity associate director who will be following him throughout his assignment. It's a habit on every first day. He has to tell him in detail about his first steps, the assignments he has been given, the people he has met, but also the difficulties he has encountered. It's a freewheeling exchange, to guide the interim manager, support him as he takes up his new post, and make sure he's heading in the right direction. The next day, a new call is scheduled, before the exchanges become less frequent the following week, remaining regular throughout the duration of the assignment.

Day 1: 7:45 p.m.

The General Counsel validates the memo, which will be presented to Comex tomorrow at 9.30am. Hector thus completes the first day of his mission. As he crosses the forecourt of La Défense, he re-watches the film of the last few hours, with one certainty: the next 12 months promise to be exciting.

Discover episode 2 of Hector's life : Day 90 of the interim management assignment!