Team size: 11

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

One of the most significant projects I have led since joining OVS Group as Head of Legal Affairs in June 2025, was the legal assessment of the acquisition of one of Italy’s leading home furnishings and household goods retailers. I coordinated the legal due diligence, worked closely with Finance, external advisers, and senior management, and led the negotiation of the key transaction documents, including the Letter of Intent, Share Purchase Agreement, and related agreements. Beyond M&A, I have driven a broad transformation of the Legal Department. I led the implementation of a new top tier AI-enabled Contract Lifecycle Management platform, redesigning the entire contract process from request to execution while introducing other AI tools to support document review and analysis. I also implemented a digital platform for privacy management and strengthened compliance of suppliers and partners through a digital due diligence solution. Finally, I reviewed and modernised all Group’s standard contracts to simplify negotiations, improve consistency, and enhance legal protection across the business. Together with a review of the Group’s intellectual property portfolio, these initiatives delivered savings of more than €350,000 in costs for external counsel in a single year while improving the overall effectiveness of the legal function.

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

One way was the comprehensive reorganisation of the Legal Department that I led. Rather than simply redesigning reporting lines, I rebalanced the team according to areas of specialisation while carefully analysing workflow volumes and business needs. This enabled a more even distribution of work, reduced dependency on individual team members, improved knowledge sharing, and ensured that the department could continue to operate effectively even during periods of peak activity or unexpected disruption. I also strengthened the Legal Department by recruiting more senior lawyers with exceptional expertise and proven track records. Although this increased personnel costs, it resulted in a more resilient and capable team, better equipped to handle complex legal matters, support strategic business initiatives, and effectively manage periods of peak workload and organisational pressure. At the same time, I reviewed the Group’s relationship with its external legal advisers. Recognising that traditional hourly billing models can create uncertainty and budget pressure during periods of volatility, I renegotiated the fee arrangements with our principal external law firms. The new model replaced largely variable fee structures with fixed monthly retainers that provided uncapped access to legal support for day-to-day matters, while additional fees were incurred only for exceptional or highly specialised work. This approach significantly improved cost predictability, ensured immediate access to external expertise whenever required, and eliminated the risk that budget constraints could delay critical legal advice during periods of heightened business activity or crisis.

What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with your country’s data protection laws?

I believe that the successful digital transformation of a legal department is fundamentally a knowledge and governance project rather than a technology project.

For instance, AI can only deliver real value when it is built on structured legal expertise, standardised processes, and clear governance. My approach begins by mapping the legal department’s knowledge base, including best practices, negotiation strategies, approved clauses, risk allocation principles, and decision-making criteria across all major transaction types. This creates a shared institutional asset that can be used to develop legal playbooks and effective prompting methodologies, enabling AI to produce consistent, reliable, and high-quality outputs while keeping legal judgement under human supervision. This transformation requires close collaboration between Legal, IT, Compliance, Privacy, Information Security, HR, Procurement, and the business to ensure that technology, processes, and governance evolve together.

To support this, maintaining full compliance with GDPR, I implemented a comprehensive AI governance framework designed to enable innovation while ensuring full compliance with GDPR and the Group’s data governance requirements. This included the development of a company-wide AI Policy establishing clear principles, approval processes, and controls for the adoption and use of AI and other digital tools. To ensure effective governance, I introduced a RACI matrix that clearly assigned roles and responsibilities across Legal, IT, Information Security, Compliance, HR, Procurement, and the business functions. This governance model provides a structured approval process, strengthens accountability, mitigates legal and operational risks, and ensures that the use of AI technologies remains transparent, secure, and aligned with the organisation’s regulatory obligations and strategic objectives.