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Eva RAMIREZ
Spanish citizen
Trading & Shipping Division, Paris,
France. Trading lawyer.
Layer, qualified with a Master’s degree
in Law at the University of Extremadura,
Spain, after spending a year in Nantes,
France, working on the Erasmus Project.
Earned her postgraduate degree in Marine
and Shipping Law at Bretagne University
in Brest, France.
Has spent four years working on the operational
side of legal affairs with the Group, and
joined the Legal Department at Trading &
Shipping a few months ago.
I finished my Master’s Degree in France,
and spent some time translating mostly technical
literature for a French company setting
up an operation in Spain. I was also studying
for my postgraduate degree in Marine and
Shipping Law in Brest, Brittany, at the
time.
An internship and
an open door.
A Total Group representative was visiting
my University as part of my course, and
mentioned that they were hiring students
on internships. I took the opportunity and
started out with a three-month work experience,
which led to a six-month fixed-term contract
(Total and Elf were merging at that point).
Then they gave me a permanent contract.
I started out in the Contracts Coordination
Office at Trading & Shipping, where
I was in charge of drafting futures contracts,
and of monitoring and updating what we call
spot contracts. Very early on, however,
I was determined to join the Legal Department
where I’ve been working for the last
few months. As a Trading Lawyer, my job
is to take care of the legal protection
of our business transactions, and to deal
with problems and litigation in the Trading
business.
Exchanging experiences.
At this point in time, my goal is to gather
experience and build up expertise in my
new job. Later on, say in three or four
years’ time, I’d like to switch
again if an opportunity comes up. The department
I work with has 500 staff and operates out
of Paris and Geneva mainly.
I’ve heard that Exploration &
Production lawyers travel on experience
exchanges. I’ve also seen that there
are now more opportunities to get international
experience in support positions like mine,
working with the Group and its business
lines in their international expansion.
Cultural wealth.
The environment I work in, however, is already
international: all the transactions and
operations I deal with take place worldwide.
From a professional point of view, these
first years have been very enriching, and
there’s been a real dynamic. The cultural
wealth in the teams is also fascinating.
And, from a personal point of view, the
atmosphere is great and I’ve made
a few friends here, too. I miss Spain sometimes,
especially in winter. But not too much !
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