Romania 2025
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
Assistant general counsel, legal compliance, EMEA | Genpact
Legal and Compliance Manager, Romania and Bulgaria | HCLTech
Head of Legal Department, IT, Digital & Innovation, Business Development, Renewables & Major Constructions | Engie Romania
Legal manager, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia | Sandoz Pharmaceutical
Head of Corporate, Competition & Legal Assistance on Strategic Projects | Engie Romania
Legal counsel lead Romania, Hungary and Croatia | Accenture
Legal and compliance lead, CEE | Haleon
Director of legal and public affairs department and member of the executive committee | Up Romania
Legal manager, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia | STRABAG
Head of legal and secretariat general department | Bucharest Stock Exchange
Corporate, external and legal affairs lead, Central Europe | Microsoft
Legal manager, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia | Therme Group
Head of Legal Capgemini Romania Ethics and Compliance Officer | Capgemini
Legal and insurance lead, Romania, Croatia, Turkey and Hungary | IPSO Agricultură
General counsel, compliance officer and board secretary | Holcim Romania
On behalf of The Legal 500, I am pleased to introduce the GC Powerlist: Romania 2025.
This edition recognises general counsel and in-house legal teams who play a key role in shaping Romania’s business landscape. Through our research, we met with professionals who not only provide legal advice but also influence corporate strategies, streamline processes, and contribute to their organisations’ success.
Across Romania, general counsel are going beyond traditional roles. They are helping companies navigate through regulations, adopt new technologies, manage risks, and support and drive change. The GC Powerlist: Romania 2025 highlights those who combine legal expertise with practical leadership.
As Raluca Gheorghiu, Head of Legal at UiPath, says: ‘One of the most impactful initiatives my team has led recently is the end-to-end digital integration of our commercial quoting process… transforming a previously manual, multi-step workflow into a seamless, automated experience’.
Partnership lies at the heart of quality legal work. Alice Iuliana Radu, General Counsel at Bosch, explains: ‘Ensuring organisational resilience during instability or crisis is fundamentally rooted in a proactive, collaborative, and adaptable strategy… Our legal team acts as a critical business partner, actively engaged in foresight and risk mitigation’.
Innovation and digital tools are now central to legal work. Ioana Regenbogen, Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs at ING Bank Romania, notes: ‘Together with my team, I have coordinated and contributed to initiatives that have made banking simpler, safer, and more inclusive… from AI-powered customer support to instant payments and accessibility reforms’.
Technology is also changing the nature of the profession itself. Robert Ioniță, Group General Counsel at NEPI Rockcastle, says: ‘The rise of generative AI and large language models is fundamentally reshaping the legal profession. Beyond process automation, these technologies are becoming integral to decision-making, knowledge management, and client advisory work’.
Romania’s legal leaders show that legal excellence is about more than just managing risks. It is about supporting the business, solving problems, and helping teams work better.
We are proud to present the GC Powerlist: Romania 2025, a recognition of legal professionals who are making a real impact, shaping their organisations, and preparing for the future of corporate law.
The recent news that elite US firm Sullivan & Cromwell had apologised to a judge over AI hallucinations in a court filing prompted a collective wince from the legal profession.
But while some lawyers remain wary of AI, others are striking a more open-minded note, and at the LexisNexis AI Forum hosted this Wednesday (20 May) by Legal 500 and Legal Business, panelists argued that the risks are far outweighed by the opportunities.
Barbara Zapisetskaya, principal technology counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, made the case that hallucinations and other potential pitfalls can be overcome with a shift in mindset.
‘What makes a difference,’ she said, ‘is empowering your lawyers to take responsibility for AI output – helping them become active AI operators, not just passive AI users. You have agency to decide whether you agree with the output or not.’
Zapisetskaya was among a line-up of leading in-house figures speaking on two panels, which covered everything from practical steps for AI implementation to the key decisions GCs need to be making in the coming months.
Financial Times general counsel Dan Guilford began by stressing the importance of building the right culture for AI adoption. In addition to proactively upskilling himself, Guilford talked about how he had implemented a voluntary weekly ‘show and tell’ meeting for team members to share successful use cases – or an exercise that became a gratifying measure of progress.
Other panelists discussed how increased in-house productivity is altering the dynamic with their external counsel.
While some see the use of AI by law firms as a precursor for reduced fees, Russell Davies, head of global operations for legal and compliance at Dentsu, said that faster results – however they are delivered – are something to be valued.
GSK assistant general counsel Anthony Kenny agreed, saying that while there was an expectation that external counsel would be utilising AI, the focus should be on the value of the output, rather than an overemphasis on identifying AI use as a justification to reduce fees.
Speaking on the second panel, MUFG EMEA general counsel James Morgan stressed the critical importance of education, noting that educating the C-suite on the advantages and risks of AI is just as important as enabling large in-house teams to use these tools.
Shanthini Satyendra, vice-chair of the AI Committee, Society for Computers & Law, CEO and founder of Manisain, offered a reminder of the importance of making the connection between tasks and the purpose behind them, extolling the virtues of identifying use cases for AI that can solve a meaningful problem.
Zapisetskaya concurred, adding that one of the most important tasks for GCs across the next six to twelve months is to create AI playbooks and templates, noting that ‘it is easy for lawyers to see problems – much harder for lawyers to see opportunities.’
There was also broad agreement among panellists that GCs should focus on upskilling their junior lawyers on AI, rather than – as some may expect – cutting back their workforce. As Satyendra summarised: ‘Some people are replacing human capital with AI without thinking about what’s required to make AI work. Retain your people and train them up.’
The panels were moderated by Emma Millington, head of the UK Lexis+ Finance Group, and LexisNexis director of segment management Stuart Greenhill.
