Misuse of company assets: the view of a lawyer and entrepreneur

From law to entrepreneurship: a hybrid path she owns

Agathe Lengereau started with a law degree, followed by a master's in business law, before completing her training at emlyon business school, with a specialisation in entrepreneurship.

Early on, she hesitated between criminal law and business law. It was on the university benches, thanks to a work placement in a criminal practice, that she developed a genuine taste for the work. There she met a lawyer who was passionate and a natural teacher, and who passed on as much legal knowledge as the reality of the field.

Alongside that, her time at business school gave her a decisive openness of mind: understanding the company, management, strategy, creation. For Agathe, combining law and business school is a real advantage, especially when you have long wanted to start your own firm.

Starting a firm: anticipate before you launch

Setting up her firm was never a sudden impulse. It was a project matured, thought through, prepared.

The main source of stress before launching? Cash flow.
Agathe chose to set aside a year of cash, so she could launch without immediate pressure, even with zero revenue. A safety net that let her focus on what mattered, and that in the end she never needed to use.

She insists on one key point for anyone wanting to launch: go and meet your peers, talk, ask for their experience, watch what works (and what does not), notably on communications and on positioning.

Lawyer and company head

Today Agathe handles international matters, working with local counsel, a dimension she particularly enjoys. She also gives a lot of time to communications and to networks, a lever that has become unavoidable in growing a firm.

To gain efficiency, she invested quickly in tools: invoicing software, internal organisation, process optimisation. A direct legacy of her dissertation on legaltech, written back at business school.

Close-up: misuse of company assets, at the heart of white-collar crime

Agathe practises mainly in white-collar crime, and notably on cases of misuse of company assets.

A very specific offence:

• It can only exist within a commercial company,
• It can be committed by a director in law, but also by a de facto director (the one who really takes the decisions, even from the shadows).

The examples are sometimes seen as trivial: using the company's cash for personal purchases, taking the company car at the weekend.

These acts are not always sanctioned, but they can become a problem the moment someone has an interest in revealing them.

The penalties are heavy: up to 5 years in prison, a 375,000 euro fine, and additional penalties. Yet in practice, the prosecution services are today saturated, overwhelmed by the number of complaints and the lack of resources.

In that context, Agathe prepares her clients in advance:

• Anticipating the risk of a search
• Preparing scenarios
• Lines to take for cases that reach the press

And next?

The firm is only six months old, but the growth is already there. So is the ambition. Agathe is considering hiring, wanting to build something that lasts without losing the DNA that pushed her to launch.

An episode that talks as much about law as about strategy, risk management and the reality of running a business.

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