Air France General Counsel Lionel Bros speaks with LSU Law LLM and International Law Society students at the Law Center on Thursday, March 10.
Air France General Counsel Lionel Bros, who earned his LLM from LSU Law in 1997, returned to his alma mater for a two-day visit on March 9-10, during which he interviewed current LLM students who are vying for an internship with the global airline in New York City following their graduation later this spring.
“It’s been a joy to be back at the Law Center and to meet the students, and just walk around campus and remember some of the great experiences I had here 25 years ago,” said Bros, a Marseille, France, native and Aix-Marseille University graduate who holds master’s degrees in law, international trade, business law, and insurance law.
Traveling with Bros to LSU Law was Counsel for Air France USA Gregory Kozlowski. LLM students interviewed with Bros and Kozlowski and took a written test for the Air France internship, which is being made available through a tripartite agreement between LSU Law, Aix-Marseille University, and Air France.
On March 10, Bros also made a special presentation to LLM and International Law Society students at the Law Center, during which he talked about his career path and provided an overview of the in-house legal work that’s done at Air France.
As General Counsel, Bros oversees a multi-faceted legal team at Air France that numbers roughly 75, about 75% of which are lawyers. In recent decades, Bros said, evolving workplace trends and an ever-competitive marketplace have changed the expectations of in-house counsel at major corporations like Air France.
“Increasingly, in-house counsel are being integrated into the business team and are expected to actively participate in the running of the business,” he said, adding that large corporations are also increasingly looking to hire multilingual attorneys who hold advanced degrees in business, accounting, and marketing.
While employers may be expecting more from their in-house counsel these days, attorneys are likewise expecting a better work-life balance than their predecessors had decades ago. That means a core part of Bros’ job as general counsel is ensuring the employees he manages are satisfied and supported, and that they have opportunities for career development.
“Only about five percent of my job is lawyering,” Bros said, “and the rest is focused on the management of our team and business development.”
