Beginning his career path in the litigation area of Iberian law firm Cuatrecasas, Andrés Campaña Avila – the current finance and resources global legal director of Iberdrola – has since attained a wide range of experiences and achievements in his legal career. Campaña Avila first joined the utilities giant in 2005 as the gas unit legal director, where he dealt with all the legal aspects of the Iberdrola gas business. After the company merged the gas unit into its energy management business in 2006, Campaña Avila assumed the role of energy management and retail legal director, encompassing greater responsibilities, that he says in 2016 ‘acquired a global scope following the increasing globalisation of the Iberdrola businesses and activities’ before eventually acceding to his current role in April 2017.

Having contributed to the ‘definition and implementation’ of the business’ strategic plan for the legal team, he particularly emphasises the move towards a more global finance and resources legal department at Iberdrola. This is achieved by ‘coordinating the legal teams of the different countries in which Iberdrola is present – subject to very different legislations – helping to achieve the global goals of the company under common criteria’. Iberdrola has recently been subject to a number of business-affecting circumstances, however thanks to Campaña Avila’s advice and the work of the legal team, the company saw the annulment of fines worth approximately €40m, a superb result for the business.

Campaña Avila also advised the retail area of Iberdrola on the energy and gas supply liberalisation process, after the suppression of the regulated tariffs that led to the large growth of its clients in the new, liberalised market. He also oversaw Iberdrola’s legal defence on long term gas sale and purchase agreements and international arbitrations with the world’s most prominent gas suppliers. Looking to the future, Campaña Avila is coordinating Iberdrola’s global adaptation to the European Union’s new GDPR legislation that enters into force in 2018. He also coordinated the legal assistance for the 2017 and 2018 bond issuances to finance Iberdrola’s green projects, which have been assessed and certified as green bonds by independent third parties.

In addition to his substantial in-house legal career, Campaña Avila has written several articles on administrative and procedural law, as well as co-authoring the book “Temas de Derecho Energético”, which focuses on the transposition of the EU 2003 Directives on the energy and gas sectors into Spanish law. Keen to disseminate knowledge in a variety of ways, Campaña Avila is also a frequent speaker at energy and competition law seminars and workshops.