Team size: 10+ lawyers at Spain HQ; 40+ across international subsidiaries and local teams 

AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works? 

Yes, meaningfully and tangibly. We have implemented AI powered contract review and mark up tools that are transforming how we approach transactional work, assisting us with the detection of risk clauses, accelerating negotiation cycles, and freeing lawyers to focus on strategic judgement rather than mechanical review. The impact has not been about replacing legal expertise, it has been about amplifying it, enabling our team to operate faster, more consistently, and at a higher strategic level. We are also carefully monitoring developments in generative AI and its potential applications in legal research, drafting, and dispute analysis, while remaining attentive to the risks and ethical considerations that come with these tools.

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? 

The vast majority of our legal work is managed in house by a highly skilled team with top tier law firm experience and deep institutional knowledge of Abertis and the infrastructure sector. We instruct external counsel strategically, principally for independent legal opinions required by lenders, local due diligence when entering new jurisdictions, specialised regulatory advice in complex or unfamiliar markets, and large scale due diligence for high volume transactions.

When selecting external advisers, we prioritise sector expertise, jurisdictional knowledge, responsiveness, and the ability to integrate seamlessly with our internal teams. Performance is evaluated on the quality and commercial relevance of the advice provided, adherence to timelines and budgets, and the extent to which external counsel genuinely understands and advances our business objectives.