Team size: 12 lawyers

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Over the past year, our legal team has played a central role in supporting all aspects of AFI Romania’s business – across retail, office, and residential projects – by delivering strategic legal guidance and ensuring operational, regulatory, and contractual compliance.

We continue to provide end-to-end legal support on a wide range of matters, including real estate acquisitions and complex transactions, commercial contracts, project development, and ongoing regulatory issues. Our work is instrumental in maintaining the legal soundness and resilience of AFI Romania’s operations, enabling the business to grow while upholding the highest compliance standards.

A key highlight of the year has been our continued legal support for AFI Cotroceni, Bucharest’s largest shopping centre, where we have managed several major financing projects entirely in-house.

In addition, working directly with international banks, we successfully closed facility agreements valued at EUR 44.7 million, EUR 29.5 million, EUR 120 million, and EUR 150 million. We are also in the final stages of concluding a landmark financing transaction of over EUR 530 million, expected to close before year-end.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

In periods of instability or crisis, my priority as AFI Romania’s Head of Legal is to help the Group Companies remain resilient by combining careful risk management with practical, timely decision-making. I am directly involved in shaping responses, ensuring that every action we take is both legally sound and strategically aligned. I also start by looking closely at key contracts, regulatory exposures, and potential litigation risks to understand where we might be vulnerable. At the same time, I ensure that governance and decision-making processes are clear and oversee the review or renegotiation of critical contracts to address new risks, remain compliant with changing laws, and minimise exposure.

I think it is essential that our legal team’s support remains steady when the business needs it most. We often go beyond our usual responsibilities to provide guidance to other departments, helping the organisation navigate uncertainty together. Once the immediate disruption passes, I take time to reflect on what happened, embedding lessons learned into contracts, policies, and governance frameworks so the Company emerges stronger. And throughout it all, I make sure to recognise and thank my team, whose dedication and adaptability make it possible to get through challenging times.

What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with your country’s data protection laws?

At AFI Romania, our legal digital transformation strategy is guided by two main principles: efficiency through innovation and strict compliance with the law.

We have begun mapping our existing workflows to identify repetitive, low-value tasks that can be automated without compromising the confidentiality or quality of our work. This initiative will lead to the implementation of secure contract lifecycle management systems, digital signature platforms, and document automation tools, all fully integrated within our corporate IT infrastructure to ensure consistency, transparency, and data integrity.

To deepen my understanding of legal technology trends, this year I participated in Legal Tech Talk in London, where I engaged with international experts on emerging tools for contract automation, AI-driven compliance monitoring, and data privacy management. The insights gained allowed me to benchmark best practices, evaluate new digital solutions, and align our transformation roadmap with global standards in legal innovation.

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

Even though I have spent more than 19 years as Head of the Legal Department of one of Romania’s top real estate companies, one experience from the early days of my career still stands out as particularly meaningful. I had the opportunity to represent, pro bono, members of the Romanian Blind Association. Working closely with them to ensure their rights were protected was both challenging and incredibly rewarding, and it gave me a deep appreciation for the impact that legal advocacy can have on people’s lives. I often look back on that time fondly and truly miss the direct, personal connection to the individuals I was helping.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next 5–10 years that companies should prepare for?

I think the legal landscape will be increasingly shaped by the integration of AI and advanced technologies. Legal departments will leverage AI to streamline contract analysis, enhance compliance monitoring, and support strategic decision-making, while ensuring that human oversight remains central to mitigate risks.

Data privacy and cybersecurity will also remain critical, as regulatory frameworks continue to evolve and data volumes grow exponentially. Companies will need robust policies and proactive monitoring to maintain compliance with GDPR and other local and international data protection laws.

In addition, ESG compliance will become a core legal priority, with increasing emphasis on environmental, social, and governance standards. Legal teams will guide organisations in meeting reporting requirements, embedding ESG considerations into corporate governance, and mitigating potential regulatory and reputational risks.

Overall, the ability to balance innovation, compliance, and responsible governance will define the role of the legal department in the coming decade. In my view, technology will certainly enhance efficiency, but human judgment, ethical decision-making, and professional expertise will remain essential to navigating complex legal and regulatory challenges. Legal teams that combine advanced tools with a strong human-centric approach will be best positioned to add strategic value and safeguard the company’s integrity.