About

Based in Lisbon, the legal team of Andrade Gutierrez is comprised of experienced legal professionals including three senior legal managers, each of whom have over 15 years’ experience, in addition to six lawyers and an assistant. The Andrade Gutierrez legal function has had a tangible impact in maintaining a group revenue figure of $3.5bn (as of 2014) via an emphasis on ‘long term results and dividends to shareholders’, according to Rui Manuel Fernandes Andrade, the head of legal affairs at the multinational conglomerate. He describes the legal team as having ‘an in-depth legal understanding, to prevent, mitigate and anticipate all relevant risks for the benefit of the board in its decision-making process’. A huge part of the upcoming agenda for the team is related to Andrade Gutierrez’s presence in emerging markets, in particular the design and construction of a viaduct in North Africa, which is the biggest of its kind on the continent and has a number of unique legalities to it. The team also provided tangible results in a force majeure case, in which the work is stated to ‘guarantee savings of more than $70m and good prospects for remaining entitlements’. A wide range of projects across several countries ensure the team is always required to display multi-jurisdictional legal knowledge along with know-how and local knowledge of each market that the company is operating in; the team work in approximately 30 jurisdictions, which they all monitor closely. The legal department is represented on the board, and he is in daily conversation with senior management and is consulted on ‘opinion, analysis and recommendations’ by the CEO and management. In addition, several members of the team play an active role in industry discourse through participation in international conferences, further showing their dedication and legal knowledge.