Most Australians, never having studied Italian, could muddle their way through a menu if transported to Italy. They could point to pizza or pasta, and the more cultured might even pair the meal with a vino.

Much harder would be to parse an Italian aerospace component supply agreement to see if it complied with European Union antitrust requirements.

Former Melbourne-based lawyer Eleanor Fletcher can do both, despite not picking up Italian until her late twenties and being largely self-taught from text books and organised conversation exchanges.

Fletcher is now the EMEA compliance leader for GE Aerospace as well as the chief compliance officer for GE subsidiary Avio Aero. Before this, Fletcher was GE’s global compliance investigations leader, where she managed a team of 10 legal professionals and handled more than 800 investigations in 28 countries.

Fletcher started her career in Italy’s fragmented legal market at boutique law firm Abbatescianni Studio Legale e Tributario while also working as external counsel advising Italian law firms and multinational corporations in the energy sector on international arbitration and litigation.

Fletcher did not speak the local language when she arrived in Italy in 2012. But she had other strengths: an attention to detail, the ability to interpret agreements and a background as a senior associate in Allen’s Melbourne commercial litigation practice. That left her well suited to working in the Bel Paese, where a slow court system means plenty of arbitration.

“When I was working for the law firm in Milan, even though I was working mainly in English, there were still lots of interactions in Italian, and reading briefs in Italian, and learning a lot more legal terminology in Italian,” Fletcher said.

“It was exhausting at first, but I took copious notes and sought help to perfect presentations. Over two and a half years, I became proficient. Now I think in Italian during work.”

Another possible advantage was Fletcher’s love of wine, which she shares with her winemaker husband David Fletcher, and was the impetus for the move.

“Dave, my husband, was doing a lot of international travel with his wine degree. In 2007 and again in 2009, he went to Italy, where it became a bit of a pipe dream for him to move there and start a winery. Obviously, that was a challenging idea to navigate with my career. But in 2012, I had just had a baby and was on maternity leave when he was offered a job as a winemaker at an Italian winery. So we decided to give it a go while I was on leave.”

They moved to Alba, a town in Italy’s northern Piedmont region known for white truffles and wine. And in what sounds like an episode of Grand Designs, the couple spotted an opportunity to convert an old railway station into a winery, cellar door and family home.

“We watched it before we moved in and were like we do not want to be those people that make all these mistakes!”

The renovation was a success and La Stazione, as the building is known, now serves a fourth purpose, acting as an office for Fletcher two days per week.

Fletcher insists there’s no dream of la dolce vita for lawyers in Italy – the concept of a leisurely and indulgent approach to living – the hours can be long and her role is demanding.

“There is no dream of the sweet life, just to dispel that myth,” Fletcher says with a laugh.

Then the photos arrive – pasta and wine on the table, family and friends gathered, vineyards in the distance – and one has to be suspicious.