First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently? 

Unison Infrastructure is a real estate company which invests in telecommunications assets, and in the US the company has spent over $1bn acquiring telecommunications infrastructure sites.  In the last couple of years, we have launched in the EU, and our EU holding company is incorporated in Luxembourg.  Over the last year I have spent a huge amount of time dealing with our launches in different markets – notably in France, Spain, and Germany.  Given my background in real estate at Amazon in Luxembourg, and before that at Eversheds Sutherland in the UK, much of this work centres around how we structure real estate acquisitions in those different jurisdictions, as well as corporate structuring, tax considerations and setting up legal teams. 

What particular industry trends are you seeing in the legal sector in Luxembourg? 

Probably the key change is the increase in the size of the law firms operating in Luxembourg.  The Big 4 accounting firms have always been large, but the larger commercial law legal firms are growing at an increasing rate, perhaps due to the firms needing to match the growing needs of Luxembourg’s finance sector – which has also led to legal firms recruiting an increasing number of specialists.  With the number of lawyers in the Luxembourg Bar more than doubling over recent years, the legal sector is thriving.  Unison has recruited real estate specialists with a focus upon the technology sector, and that proved challenging. Also, this increase in the number of lawyers throws into focus a second trend – the increasing specialism of Luxembourg’s legal community.  For example, whereas once a ‘corporate lawyer’ in Luxembourg would deal with general M&A work, now there are numerous specialist areas within which a Luxembourg lawyer can train and subsequently find a fruitful career. 

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why? 

The most important thing about being a general counsel is building and maintaining a thriving team. I have a team in Luxembourg, but also in Spain and Italy, and I am looking to recruit in France and Germany.  The people are the most important part of our business, and I care deeply about my employees.