About

Miguel Videira Pimentão began his legal career as an associate attorney at magic circle law firm Clifford Chance. Based in their Paris office with a working knowledge of five languages, Videira Pimentão supported various departments on commercial contracts. In addition to contractual work and advising companies on diverse commercial and economic issues, he led corporate projects and coordinated internal teams for the firm during this period. His term included a six month secondment at Pfizer Animal Health and in February 2013 he joined global animal health company Zoetis, as senior legal manager (France, Italy, Spain and Portugal). The company became a standalone company that very month as a result of a successful initial public offering (IPO) of Pfizer’s Animal Health activities. With the wealth of knowledge he amassed in previous roles, Videira Pimentão was promoted to his current role as legal director and corporate counsel (France and Southern Europe) in under two years at the company. As he joined Zeotis at its conception, Videira Pimentão has had to build the company legal function from scratch. In doing so, he created templates, procedures, policies, databases, a law firm network and training programs while coping with the day-to-day work and building-up trust with the business at the same time. He is an active member of the senior leadership team, which includes the general manager of each Zoetis entities. Videira Pimentão therefore participates in senior leadership team meetings and enjoys frequent face-to-face contact, debriefings and calls with the General Managers. With such integration into the business it’s easy to see how Videira Pimentão plays an important role in the strategic direction of the company. ‘The business sees a lot of value in legal, and sees it as a partner, rather than as a mere internal service provider’ he says. One of his main focuses has been managing the impact of the new French law on Agriculture in October 2014, Loi d’Avenir pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et la Forêt, which revolutionised the relationships of pharmaceutical companies with their customers. Videira Pimentão says ‘since this new law brings new obligations to Zoetis and its employees, I am currently – together with my colleagues from the Regulatory Affairs department – providing training to the employees, working closely with the management to anticipate changes, drafting contract templates, participating in the local industry associations to discuss and define best practices. Lots of things going on, as you can see’.