Career Biography

Zoi Stolaki is a lawyer and Head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs of the Legal Department of DEPA COMMERCIAL SMSA, with over 15 years of experience in energy, M&As, antitrust, competition and merger control, corporate, regulatory law in Greece and abroad, in the private and public sectors.

As in-house counsel of DEPA, Stolaki advises on EU and Greek energy regulatory, corporate, antitrust and competition law matters, M&As, corporate restructurings, project financing, energy contracts. Stolaki has represented DEPA and led the legal teams advising on all legal issues and aspects of DEPA’s restructuring and privatisation process. He has also led on M&As and project financing, including inter alia with respect to the acquisition of a portfolio of companies developing RES projects of over 800 MW; the acquisition of stakes in GASTRADE, which operates the FSRU Alexandroupolis project; on “Larissa Thermoelectric SA”, which develops natural gas-fired unit of a capacity of 800 MW; FIER THERMOELECTRIC SHA, which develops the first in Albania natural gas-fired unit of a capacity of 174 MW; and in Alexandroupolis Electricity Production, which develops an 840 MW CCGT power plant. Stolaki also represents DEPA at the Strategy Committee of EUROGAS.

Prior to joining DEPA in 2015, Stolaki worked at the Brussels office of US international law firm DECHERT LLP in the fields of EU competition law and energy regulatory. Stolaki also worked as an intern in the Brussels office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, the legal department of a major Greek bank and the legal department of the Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Union.

She holds an LL.B. from the University of Athens (Greece) and an Advanced Master of Laws in Energy and Environmental Law from the University of Leuven (Belgium).

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

Legal counsel should possess flexibility and adaptability to any situation that may arise, especially during periods of crises. Legal counsel should always bear in mind the fundamental principles and goals of their company and provide legal solutions ensuring business continuation in alignment with these principles.

Legal counsel has to work closely with the management, understand its needs and concerns to be able to provide solutions to help them overcome any hurdles in implementing business strategy. Crises trigger particularly difficult and challenging situations when red lines may need to be set by the legal counsel. At that time legal counsel needs to be creative and think out of the box providing legally sound solutions to help the management overcome the crisis in alignment with company’s business strategy.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

DEPA is one of the most prominent energy companies in Greece, being the first to import natural gas and establish the Greek natural gas market. As DEPA’s in-house counsel, I have had the opportunity to actively contribute to the liberalisation of the Greek natural gas market. As DEPA’s legal counsel, I feel I do not merely support and provide legal advice for the materialisation of the company’s business strategies, but I also feel part of the greater cause that DEPA serves by contributing to rendering Greece into an energy hub for the wider South-east European region and increasing security of supply to the benefit of end consumers amidst challenging times. Indicatively, I advised on and was actively involved in the legal drafting of the laws for the liberalisation of the Greek natural gas market, the restructuring of DEPA group to comply with the EU natural gas market unbundling rules, the privatisation process of DEPA group, advising DEPA as shareholder of the company that developed and operates the first FSRU in Greece and Southeast Europe (the FSRU Alexandroupolis), advising DEPA as shareholder of the company that developed and operates the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (ICGB) the natural gas pipeline that further enhanced the energy security of supply of the wider Southeast European region.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

The role of in-house counsel is to stand by the company’s management and people, providing them with balanced legal advice factoring in the company’s needs and interests. Legal counsel shall be able to strike a balance between ensuring compliance with law, efficient corporate governance and successfully implementing business strategy. Legal counsel have to listen, understand, be simple, always available and goal driven. We need to be pragmatic and assess all parameters and management’s concerns. In the end of day, we are the ones who shall find solutions for deadlocks that alleviate any Board and management concerns.

Most importantly, an in-house counsel has to always demonstrate ethos, professionalism, team spirit and loyalty to their company. Moreover, legal counsel has to lead by example and inspire the values of respect, teamwork and inclusivity towards colleagues and external associates.