AKD

Managing Partner Carlos Pita Cao discusses how AKD continues to strengthen and adapt to deliver even greater value to its clients.   What do you see as the main points that differentiate AKD from your competitors? If I had to summarise it in one sentence, I would say: excellence without fuss. That is very much how we approach our work. We typically assist clients on complex business matters that require both deep sector understanding and multiple areas of legal expertise. Many firms have moved towards a narrower set of core practices, whereas we believe clients benefit from access to a broader spectrum of expertise within one firm. It allows us to connect disciplines and look at issues from several angles. Internally, we are organising our work around three pillars: Transactions, Regulatory and Disputes. This structure makes it easier to assemble multidisciplinary teams when a matter spans several legal domains. Ultimately, what clients tend to value most is our way of working. We place strong emphasis on being pragmatic and responsive. Clients are not only looking for technical excellence; they want advisers who understand their business context and help them move forward with clear, practical advice.   Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that? In the current environment, many of our clients are operating in conditions that require constant strategic adjustment. Investment decisions, supply chains, regulatory exposure and geopolitical developments are all moving at the same time. That inevitably translates into more complex legal work. We expect continued growth in areas linked to energy, technology, healthcare & life sciences and international trade. These sectors sit at the centre of structural economic shifts and are heavily shaped by regulation, large capital investments and long-term infrastructure or innovation projects. What we increasingly see is that the most relevant work no longer sits neatly within one practice area. Strategic transactions raise regulatory questions, regulatory change creates dispute risk, and investment decisions require a combination of legal and sector insight. As a result, the strongest demand is for multidisciplinary advice that combines transactional, regulatory and contentious expertise. For clients, the real driver is the need to make confident decisions in an environment where the stakes and the complexity have both increased.   What's the main change you've made in the firm that will benefit clients? Like many law firms, we historically had strong practices operating somewhat independently. We are deliberately moving towards a structure that makes it easier to combine expertise across practices, sectors and jurisdictions, and to bring the right people together around a client issue. At the same time, technology - including AI - is beginning to change how legal work is organised. Used well, it allows us to reduce time spent on routine work and create more space for what really matters: judgement, collaboration and strategic thinking. Ultimately, the goal is quite simple. Clients should have faster access to the right expertise and advice that reflects the full context of the issue - commercial, regulatory and legal - rather than a single legal angle.   Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them? At AKD, we see AI primarily as a tool that can increase efficiency and help us process information faster, but not as something that replaces the core value that lawyers bring: judgement. If anything, it reinforces the importance of that judgement. By automating certain types of routine work, technology allows our lawyers to spend less time on mechanical tasks and more time on analysis, strategic thinking and collaboration across disciplines. That is ultimately where clients see the greatest value. It also changes how our teams work. As technology takes over more repetitive work, it creates room for lawyers to focus on the more interesting and intellectually challenging aspects of the profession. We believe that not only improves the quality of advice we deliver, but also makes the work itself more engaging and fulfilling for the people doing it.   Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business? Many of the matters we handle involve situations where legal, regulatory and commercial considerations are closely intertwined. For example, when clients are developing projects or entering new markets, they often face questions around regulation, financing structures, contracts and potential disputes. Rather than approaching those questions separately, we bring together teams across transactions, regulatory and contentious work. That integrated perspective helps clients move faster and make better informed decisions, because they can assess risk, opportunity and strategy at the same time. In many cases, that broader perspective creates more value than addressing individual legal questions in isolation.   Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms - where do you see the firm in three years’ time? Clients today operate in an environment defined by volatility, geopolitical shifts, rapid technological development and regulatory change often unfold at the same time. For the C-suite, this means decisions need to be taken quickly, while balancing risk, opportunity and long-term strategy. In that context, companies are not so much facing legal problems as business problems with legal dimensions. What they increasingly value is advisers who understand that broader context and can work alongside them to help navigate those decisions. Our ambition is to further strengthen AKD’s position as a leading independent Benelux firm that supports clients on complex, multidisciplinary and often cross-border matters. By combining legal expertise with sector insight and a pragmatic way of working, we aim to contribute to the agility that organisations need in today’s environment. Over the coming years we will continue investing in our people, in sector expertise, collaboration across disciplines, our international reach and the thoughtful use of technology - while maintaining the responsive, business-minded approach that clients already associate with AKD.