About

A leader in the exploration, production and processing of oil and gas, INA Group holds a dominant position in Croatia’s oil market. Describing his move to the company in 2009, Luka Pavleković admits, ‘I had no plans to move in-house as I was enjoying my [private practice] lawyer profession at that time but I could not let this opportunity, working for the largest Croatian oil company, pass. Soon, I found the role of the in-house lawyer a very interesting and challenging one and was very motivated to learn and grow’. After a swift promotions, in 2014 Pavleković was appointed to his current position to head legal operations by covering all the international and domestic legal activities for INA’s group of companies. Pavleković earned significant internal recognition for developing INA’s legal team into trusted advisers that proactively assess and manage legal risk. Describing the challenge of this development, he says, ‘the most challenging task was to redefine the traditional role of the in-house legal department, providing legal opinions and handling litigation, and their interaction with businesses colleagues. My vision was that in-house lawyers should not be bogged down with activities that can be outsourced elsewhere and should spend more time and be more involved in business activities.’ Another significant feature of Pavleković’s time at INA came after Croatia’s 2013 accession to the EU. ‘We faced a huge volume of regulatory changes. It was essential to collaborate with business colleagues to gain deeper understanding of the changes and its effect on operations in order to adapt and support growth’, he explains. Before INA, Pavleković spent four years at law firm lairm Hrabar between 2004 and 2008.