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

With my team, I have supported the development of Retina’s biomethane platform, one of the largest renewable gas infrastructure projects currently under development in Italy, involving the construction of 21 biomethane plants across Southern Italy. Our work has spanned the entire legal lifecycle of the initiative, including fundraising activities, financing transactions, the structuring and governance of project companies, and the negotiation of key agreements with investors, lenders, contractors and strategic partners. The project has required expertise across multiple legal disciplines, including corporate, project finance, regulatory, environmental, real estate and commercial law. Given the scale of the investment and the evolving regulatory framework governing the energy transition sector, a key priority has been ensuring that the legal framework remains aligned with both commercial objectives and regulatory requirements. Alongside the transactional work, we have continued to strengthen the Group’s governance framework and further develop the in-house legal function, supporting the organisation’s growth while managing complex legal matters involving multiple stakeholders and parallel workstreams. Beyond providing legal support, one of our key priorities has been positioning the legal function as a strategic business partner. By engaging with management at an early stage of decision-making, we are able to anticipate legal and regulatory challenges, facilitate execution and contribute to the successful delivery of complex projects in a way that supports the company’s long-term objectives. My approach is to integrate the legal function into the decision-making process from the earliest stages of project development, enabling the business to execute strategic initiatives efficiently while appropriately managing legal aspect and risk.

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

In my experience, resilience is built well. The legal function should anticipate potential scenarios, identify areas of legal and regulatory uncertainty, and help define structures that remain effective under different circumstances. My approach is therefore based on proactive risk assessment rather than reactive crisis management. This means working closely with management from the early stages of strategic initiatives to evaluate potential legal, regulatory and commercial developments, and designing contractual and governance frameworks that provide sufficient flexibility to adapt as circumstances evolve. In a sector such as renewable energy, where projects are developed over several years and involve multiple stakeholders, changes in regulation, financing conditions or market dynamics are inevitable. The legal team’s role is to ensure that these risks are identified early, appropriately allocated and continuously monitored throughout the lifecycle of the project. Ultimately, I believe that the role of an in-house legal team is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to enable the business to make informed decisions and continue executing its strategy with an appropriate level of legal and commercial risk.

General counsel often speak of the need to be strategic to reach the pinnacle of the profession. What does being strategic mean to you?

To me, being strategic means ensuring that the legal function contributes to business decisions rather than simply reviewing them. The General Counsel should be involved from the earliest stages of strategic initiatives, working alongside management and the Board to anticipate risks, evaluate opportunities and develop solutions that enable the business to achieve its objectives within a sound legal and governance framework. Being strategic also means understanding the commercial drivers behind every decision. Legal advice should not focus solely on identifying risks, but on providing clear, pragmatic guidance that supports execution and creates long-term value for the organisation. Ultimately, strategy is about judgement: balancing legal, commercial and regulatory considerations to help the business make informed decisions with confidence.

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

Technical legal expertise is essential, but it is no longer the distinguishing factor. A modern General Counsel should be a strategic adviser to management and the Board, contributing to key business decisions from the outset rather than simply assessing legal risk once decisions have been made. Problem-solving is one of the most valuable qualities of an in-house lawyer. The role is not only to identify legal risks, but to help the business develop practical, commercially sound solutions that support strategic objectives while ensuring an appropriate legal and governance framework. Equally important is the ability to communicate effectively. General Counsel must translate complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, actionable advice, enabling decision-makers to understand both the opportunities and the associated risks, and ultimately make informed decisions with confidence.