Team size: 20+

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

At the end of 2024, NEPI Rockcastle completed two landmark Polish acquisitions: Magnolia Park in Wrocław and Silesia City Center in Katowice, among the largest retail real estate transactions in the CEE region, exceeding €600 m. in combined value. Both deals involved intricate due diligence, financing, and regulatory legal work.

Our team also supported NEPI Rockcastle’s strategic entry into renewable energy via a €110 m. investment, handling the legal and regulatory matters specific to energy generation and projects acquisitions and development.

In Bucharest, we oversaw the Promenada Mall extension, a complex, multi-phase development integrating retail, office, a hotel and public spaces.

Finally, we implemented an industry-leading AI-powered legal tool, designed to enhance both accuracy and agility across the legal and compliance function.

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

In times of crisis, companies become more exposed, and the legal function must recalibrate risk tolerance while identifying opportunity. Past crises—from the 2008 financial downturn to Covid-19—have shown that resilience stems from adaptability and foresight.
Our role is to protect the business while enabling it to seise opportunities responsibly. This balance—between risk containment and strategic enablement—differentiates a great legal team from a merely competent one.
We remain alert to shifting behaviours of regulators and policymakers, interpreting evolving frameworks through a pragmatic business lens. Ultimately, the legal function must not only react but anticipate: guiding the organisation toward sustainable growth, ensuring governance discipline, and embedding a culture of measured opportunity-taking amid uncertainty.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

The rise of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) is fundamentally reshaping the legal profession. Beyond process automation, these technologies are becoming integral to decision-making, knowledge management, and client advisory work.

At NEPI Rockcastle, we have adopted AI solutions that enhance speed and accuracy while offering cost efficient support to legal and compliance team. These tools allow lawyers to redirect focus from repetitive tasks to matters that require complex judgment, creativity, and human insight.
Lawyers who embrace these advancements will have a clear advantage in adapting to the next decade of transformation. For me, adopting AI is not just about productivity – it’s about ensuring the legal function remains future-ready and aligned with business and technological evolution.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?   

We rely on external counsel primarily for matters requiring deep specialisation or for routine work where automation and legal tech ensure superior efficiency and cost transparency.

For high-impact or high-risk matters—financial, reputational, or regulatory—we consistently engage top-tier specialists and often seek second opinions to validate strategic choices.

Performance is evaluated across several dimensions: quality, responsiveness, commercial acumen, innovation, and alignment with our culture. The most valued advisers act as strategic partners, proactive and tech-enabled, who enhance rather than duplicate our in-house capabilities.