Secretary‑general and secretary to the board | Grupo Nortegas
Estíbaliz Pérez Arzoz
Secretary‑general and secretary to the board | Grupo Nortegas
From your perspective, what legal or business trends over the past 12 months have had the most tangible impact on your role? Are there specific regulatory developments, at Spanish or EU level, that you believe other in-house teams should be paying closer attention to?
The obligations arising from EU regulations on the use of artificial intelligence tools, as well as the NIS2 and CSRD Directives—still pending transposition into Spanish law—and the recently approved Customer Service Act at national level, will require particular attention from in-house lawyers in the coming months, given their significant impact on organisations.
How can a general counsel in Spain effectively embed a culture of compliance and ESG accountability across all levels of the organisation, especially in large or multi-jurisdictional groups?
The Nortegas Group operates exclusively in Spain and has approximately 200 employees. Regulatory compliance is a top priority for the organisation, with clearly defined responsibilities assigned at all levels, including the Board of Directors, the Audit Committee, the Ethics Committee, the Executive Committee, and process owners.
In my capacity as General Secretary and General Counsel of the Group, I also serve as Chair of the Ethics Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the Group’s criminal compliance framework.
What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?
Although our legal team is relatively small, we aim to handle most legal matters internally, except for: (i) litigation proceedings, (ii) M&A transactions, and (iii) matters which, due to their particular complexity or potential impact on the Group, require external legal advice.
We work with pre-selected panels of law firms, chosen from leading firms based on proven professional excellence in their respective areas of expertise.
How does your team contribute to the overall business strategy of the company? Can you share an example of a recent legal-led initiative that had a significant impact?
The Nortegas legal team is actively involved in most of the company’s key business decisions, and we consider ourselves true business partners. We adopt a highly practical, results-oriented approach, ensuring that legal input supports and enhances strategic decision-making across the organisation.