Team size: approximately 30 in my department

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

I have been involved in transactions exceeding €500m, which have included the acquisition of real estate properties, the negotiation and execution of construction contracts, service agreements, and corporate acquisitions.

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?

During periods of instability — whether arising from economic volatility, regulatory changes, or operational disruption — I adopt a proactive and solution-oriented legal strategy rooted in early risk identification, scenario analysis, and close alignment with executive leadership. As the sole legal professional embedded within a multidisciplinary team, I serve as a strategic legal advisor, ensuring that legal risk management is fully integrated into key business decisions from the outset.

I maintain ongoing, structured collaboration with the Chief Financial Officer and work cross-functionally with finance, project management, and cost management teams. This enables me to anticipate legal and commercial risks, facilitate timely legal input, and support informed decision-making around the execution of high-value transactions.

In particular, I play an active role in evaluating the appropriate timing and legal structure of transactions, ensuring the organisation remains fully compliant with contractual obligations and regulatory requirements. By embedding legal due diligence and contract risk assessments into our internal processes, I help safeguard the company from potential exposure and ensure that transactions are closed in a manner that protects the organisation’s long-term interests.

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

Within the construction and real estate sector, the role of modern in-house counsel extends far beyond traditional legal advisory functions. It demands a commercially driven, forward-thinking mindset that enables the successful delivery of complex projects while effectively navigating legal, regulatory, and operational risk landscapes.

Key capabilities include: strong commercial acumen and industry-specific expertise – effective in-house legal support requires a nuanced understanding of how legal decisions impact project delivery schedules, financing structures, site acquisition, development risk, and the performance of contractual obligations. Legal counsel must align with commercial objectives to ensure seamless execution of development and transactional matters.

Agility and proactive risk management is also key. Given the inherent volatility in construction and real estate — ranging from market dynamics to regulatory shifts and planning risks — it is vital for legal counsel to anticipate issues, structure protective frameworks, and act decisively in mitigating exposure. This foresight is essential to maintaining project momentum and investor confidence.

In my role, integrated cross-functional collaboration is essential. I maintain close engagement with finance teams, project managers, cost managers, and architects to embed legal considerations throughout each stage of the project lifecycle. I provide strategic legal input on procurement strategies, construction contracts (including FIDIC and JCT forms), and development agreements, ensuring that legal risks are translated into actionable commercial guidance.

As digitalisation continues to transform the sector — through smart contracts, digital tendering platforms, and data-centric project delivery — legal departments must maintain digital fluency and compliance oversight, remaining at the forefront of legal technology adoption and ensuring robust compliance with planning laws, environmental obligations, and data protection regulations, in collaboration with other team members and external advisors.

Ultimately, in-house counsel must act not as a barrier, but as a strategic enabler — proactively managing legal and commercial risk, driving compliant project execution, and safeguarding the organisation’s long-term interests across every transaction and development cycle.