About

Representing one of the leading energy suppliers in Ireland, Bord Gáis Energy’s legal team is heavily involved in all material decision making for the company, providing innovative suggestions that allow the business to securely pursue its growth strategy. In the past two years the legal team has been challenged with gas price deregulation, intense political pressure on pricing, competition due to several new entrants to the energy market and more recently embarking on a complete regulatory redesign of the wholesale electricity sector. The legal function sits alongside the corporate development and regulation teams, all reporting to Joanne Ross, Bord Gáis Energy’s head of legal and regulation. Over the past few years the team has also been heavily involved in M&A work and a number of other projects that are key to hitting long term growth targets. For example the restructuring of Bord Gáis Energy and sale of select assets to a consortium of buyers led by Centrica. The process took approximately 18 months, whilst the team continued to manage business-as-usual work. The team has made an impact by changing Bord Gáis Energy’s approach to instructing external counsel. Most support is provided solely by the in-house team, but where external lawyer support is needed they are instructed directly by an in house legal team member and the legal budget is held centrally. Ross says this has ‘saved costs’ and has ‘ensured that the in-house team are close to every material decision being made’.