After 15 years career as senior associate in Athens law firms, expert legal professional Alexandra Michalopoulou moved in-house for the first time when she joined OPAP Group, the leading gaming company in Greece and one of the most renowned in its industry worldwide.

Within 12 months of joining the company, an intensive restructure of the legal function meant Michalopoulou was tasked with heading the legal affairs team of four members that provide legal support to long-term strategic projects and handle contentious cases of critical importance to the OPAP Group entities. Within the team she rationalised the working schedule and daily operations establishing a standard working-hours program, streamlined procedures for the diligent, timely and unhurried execution of tasks, as well as taking measures to ensure work-life balance of team members was kept. She is also noted to have cultivated efficient internal procedures by adopting initiatives and setting an example of open a transparent communications with other teams within the organisation.

On these changes Michalopoulou had the following to say: ‘The initiatives have broken ground and set the pace for the establishment of lasting constructive work patterns that have enhanced the efficiency and gratification gained by the team’s lawyers (and by their colleagues in other teams) out of their work’. Not limited to these changes, Michalopoulou works on the some of the most important projects at OPAP. To this end she drafted the call for an international, open tender for the selection of concessionaires, who would acquire the right to install and operate a total number of 18,500 video lottery terminals (VLTs) in Greek territory. She also drafted the draft concession contract that would have been executed between each of the successful candidates to the above tender all with the unanimous approval of the plenary session of the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC).

Michalopoulou also contributed to the set of submissions put forward to the international Arbitral Tribunal by OPAP, in support of its €1bn claim in damages against the Greek State due to the latter’s regulatory initiatives that led to its VLTs deployment project being suspended. Consolidating her abilities, she was to offer legal advice and support in the reform of the legislative and contractual framework for the installation and conduct of games through VLTs, which are exclusively operated by OPAP.