Presiding over the legal team at the core of the large Portuguese IT solutions provider Novabase since the start of 2017, Rita Branquinho Lobo has been faced with the challenging task of ensuring the smooth running of the legal department whilst simultaneously undertaking a restructuring of its activities. Reporting directly to the CFO, her team now has a great capacity to work independently and with a say in the decision-making processes.

Branquinho’s team is currently working with the business to increase understanding of legal requirements both in private and public procurement procedures, helping to create a better awareness of legal implications and risk assessment. ‘The Novabase team focuses on providing legal counsel in all processes with tailor-made solutions and learning from past experiences, this has brought the legal team even closer to the business as a partner to be taken into consideration when putting out proposals to clients,’ Branquinho shares. Before her appointment as head of legal affairs at Novabase, Branquinho spent nine years as a senior in-house lawyer at the company, with responsibility for all employment, social security and litigation matters.

During this period Branquinho particularly impressed with her valuable contribution to the sale of Novabase’s infrastructures and managed services business to Vinci Energies Portugal SGPS for €38.4m. ‘In the years at Novabase I have come to learn to look at the business as a whole, analysing issues in a wider perspective, looking for the best and most efficient solution that best suits the business needs. I have learned to listen to other people in other departments and to learn from them incorporating this in my analysis of legal issues,’ Branquinho highlights when giving an evaluation of her time at the company. Prior to her in-house legal career, Branquinho worked in private practice at law firms Cuatrecasas, Abreu Associados and SPS Advogados.