This month, let’s meet Marjorie FOX, professor of Law on the Lille campus since 2017, and Head of Law Track.
Each year, more than 600 professor-researchers on IÉSEG’s Lille campus and Paris-La Défense campus contribute to the students’ learning journeys, enhancing their chances of achieving their professional goals and thriving in their careers.
“Faculty in the Spotlight” is the monthly feature that offers a closer look at IÉSEG’s professors—their background, what they teach, why they joined IÉSEG, fun anecdotes and more!
Could you tell us about your background?
I’m American and I often joke that I’m the Erasmus student who never went home! I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Language Sciences from Université de Franche-Comté, then I completed a Master’s degree in Private Law at Université de Bourgogne.
My career began in a law firm during my studies but I was hired directly out of law school in the automotive industry, where I worked as legal counsel to the president of a group, who was managing six companies worldwide. I was essentially his right-hand person for all legal matters. This took me across the globe — from setting up a joint venture in China, to establishing a company in Romania, and managing claims in Spain, Brazil, and England. I also spent a lot of time training sales and Buyers teams, creating legal content for their negotiations — something I thought of as a side activity at the time, but which foreshadowed my passion for teaching.
Since 2014, I’ve been working as an entrepreneur and Head of legal in insurance for Cabinet Dujardin Deleplanque in Lille, on top of my teaching.
Why did you decide to become a professor?
Teaching had always attracted me. While I achieved strong results in settling major claims out of court and negotiating joint ventures and such along with the financial benefits that followed, I wanted a different type of fulfillment, and that’s what I found in teaching. This activity gives me a creative outlet and a sense of impact on future professionals. I feel useful and fulfilled. I started teaching at IÉSEG in 2017 and became a permanent professor in 2020. Today, I split my time between IÉSEG and my own legal practice.
What courses do you teach at IÉSEG?
I mainly teach at the Master level, in core and apprenticeship programs, where I cover Insurance Law, Intellectual Property, and Data Protection. I find it particularly interesting and stimulating to teach students who combine their studies with real-world experience, as they can immediately see the relevance of the law in practice. I also teach International Business Law to first-year Bachelor in International Business students, giving them an introduction to legal systems and civil liability. I have recently added MBA end Executive programs to my collection. Across these courses, I want to provide students with the legal tools they need as current or future managers.
How do you approach teaching?
My goal is always to make law accessible, engaging, and useful for future managers who will manage people… like me, who know their rights! I use a lot of interactive methods: role plays, case studies, “show and tell” exercises, even gamification.
Recently, I co-created a Virtual Reality workshop with the Center for Education and Technological Innovation where students experience legal and ethical dilemmas in immersive settings. I also designed a board game that takes players through different stages of life and the types of insurance they might need personally and in their professional lives.
Also, I designed the sustainability roadmap for all law courses in the Grande École Program. Our students need to understand the basics of compliance, ethics, and legal risk if they are to become changemakers. I see my role as helping them develop “legal reflexes”: recognizing when they’ve reached their limits and need expert help.
I’ve spent the past year building a top-notch team of adjunct professors for the Law Track. They bring expertise in areas such as competition law, trademark law, and corporate law, and include directors, lawyers, notaries, many legal professionals vested with public authority/legal civil servants and in-house counsel. For these professionals, teaching at a high-ranking school like IÉSEG is also valuable, as it enhances their own reputation.
What do your students say about you?
They say that my strength is bringing “real-life practice” into the classroom. Because I’m still active in the legal field, I can share cases, corporate perspectives, and the kind of insights that make the subject tangible. I want students to have fun while learning — I believe that law doesn’t need to be painful. As an entrepreneur myself I can also relate to those students who have such aspirations.
Do you have a favorite memory from your time at IÉSEG so far?
That’s an anecdote but one of my favorite moments in class was during the virtual reality workshop, when a student put on the headset and started laughing, exclaiming: “My professor is everywhere, oh my god, I see her everywhere!” It was hilarious to see them so immersed in the experience.