About

A highly experienced and result-oriented lawyer, with more than 20 years’ multinational experience, Ruth Breitenfeld is the legal manager of Cepsa Trading. Cepsa is a Spanish multinational oil and gas company with operations in several countries. When she assumed her role, Cepsa did not have a well-structured legal department and her defining task was the creation and development of a high-calibre team. ‘I am proud to say that it has been accomplished and the legal department within Cepsa a top level in-house structure, which is flexible and known as a problem solver. We went from a non-existent legal department to a fully organised function, recognised and perceived both internally and externally as adding value to the organisation and to its activity. My experience allowed us to introduce innovation in the way the company was used to doing business and to approach its several stakeholders’. Praised for the successful team she has established, Breitenfeld has added ‘reputational value’ to the business. ‘If a company has a top level legal department, the company is perceived, externally, by the official entities, by the legal professionals in the market, by other companies and clients, as being a top level company’ she comments. Breitenfeld is also vice president and board member of Cepsa Portugal.