Team size: 16

How do you manage and coordinate legal responsibilities across multiple jurisdictions from a Portugal‑based role, and what are the main challenges this presents in practice? 

Managing legal risks across multiple jurisdictions presents both structural and cultural challenges. Each country has its own regulatory framework and enforcement approach, namely Malta and Cyprus with a mixed legal system. During my time covering Greece, we had to navigate periods of huge regulatory changes at several levels e.g. labour laws, covid regulation, tax law, new regulatory implementation with very demanding timelines for implementation and lack of clarity, which required close engagement with internal stakeholders from global functions, businesses and supervisors working groups. In Malta and Cyprus, with a mixed legal system, the smaller market size often means that regulatory frameworks evolve quickly to align with broader EU standards, but with unique local interpretations which required local legal expertise. A consistent challenge has been ensuring regulatory expectations and timelines —this requires not only legal expertise, but also strong local relationships and a nuanced understanding of economic contexts. It’s about managing complexity without compromising on integrity, risk standards, and full compliance with regulatory requirements.

In what ways does your legal function contribute to international business strategy, transformation or growth, beyond traditional compliance or risk mitigation? 

The legal team plays a pivotal role in navigating new regulations, enabling the company to enter a regulated jurisdiction without compromising its growth timeline.  The role of in-house legal counsel is to understand the pressure points, strategy and objectives of the business and effectively communicate to the management the risks and legal issues involved in any decision. This enables the management to make informed strategic choices within an acceptable legal risk profile. The country counsel is skilled to reply to high expectation of senior management by anticipating key legal and regulatory matters and take a proactive role as a key member of the country senior management team responsible for managing overall country franchise locally, assuming a local leading project role in all the organization strategic decisions involving key projects. To be able to manage expectations and to be pragmatic, assertive, and hands-on are crucial to support the franchise in a highly effective way.

The regulatory changes are the external factor that have a potential impact in the local business activity, requiring a constant and daily oversight of new requirements to keep ensuring business results. The legal implementation of such rules is a complex process, involving different support functions and businesses but regulatory compliance is crucial and a key priority for all organizations working in financial services and legal plays a key role. Regulatory monitoring tools and partnerships with industry associations provide early insights into legislative changes. Internal training programs ensure that both legal and business teams remain apprised of emerging risks. Scenario planning and stress-testing of compliance protocols further prepare the organization to respond swiftly to regulatory shifts. Work as a partner, engage key stakeholders, focuses on understanding business needs and expectations, be pragmatic in any legal and regulatory development, provide a clear and consistent line of sight to all team members regarding the most critical work activities are the key component for an in-house counsel.

How do you structure relationships with internal stakeholders and external counsel across different jurisdictions to ensure effective collaboration and decision‑making? 

Selecting external counsel is about more than technical expertise—it’s about partnership. I look for firms that understand our business and can provide clear, pragmatic advice under pressure. Local insight is essential, especially in jurisdictions with evolving or ambiguous regulatory environments. Responsiveness, clarity of communication, and the ability to collaborate seamlessly with in-house teams are also critical. And, importantly, I value counsel who can anticipate issues, not just respond to them—those who act as strategic advisors, not just legal technicians. My experience with Greek, Maltese and Cypriot external law firms was tremendous effective. I’ve learnt immensely, and we built a bridge of synergies which helped the business to continue working without any disruption even though I was not a Greek lawyer.