About

Green Network is a dynamic Italian company in the energy and gas sector that started in 2003 with the liberalisation of the energy market in Italy. Today it has grown to be among the largest energy operator in Italy for the volume of electricity sold. The group operates also in the UK through two companies based in London: Green Network Energy UK as the trading and hedging office and Green Network Energy, the first Italian supplier of energy and gas to the domestic and SME market in the UK. Green Network’s legal department was created in July 2018, with the appointment of the head of legal affairs Sergio Calderara and junior lawyer Claudio Crispi. Before these appointments, all legal matters were exclusively referred to external lawyers. In March 2019, the team was enriched with the hiring of Alessandro Franceschini who has extensive experience both in-house and in private practice and is more focused on contracts, while Crispi predominantly focuses on data
protection compliance and corporate criminal liability compliance. The versatility of the team members is further enhanced by the close cooperation with neighbouring departments: regulatory affairs, a team of three and legal credit, a team of four, the latter in charge of judicial debt recovery. This makes it possible for the legal department to deal with the workload, while maintaining a focus on strategic items. Furthermore, the legal team works closely with the accounting and controlling department, in charge of corporate affairs. Over the past year the legal team has worked on changing the internal perception of the legal function. ‘The strategical concept was to introduce the legal department without creating any disruption in operations, and to this extent the outcome has been, so far, rewarding: if the company had been so successful in its growth over the past years without an in-house legal department, one should not destroy its proven capacities and flexibility, but rather build a stronger basis to sustain the growth of the company’, says Calderara. The legal team has succeeded, according to the feedback received by the company’s sales director, to be perceived throughout the company as a bearer of value. ‘The legal department will continue to aim at an internal awareness of the benefits brought by the creation of an in-house function, both at a top management level and at all other – widespread – levels’, says Calderara.