About

Grupo San José is a prestigious company listed on the Madrid stock market, and which operates worldwide. Its main business lines are: Construction (its core business); Energy and Environment; Concessions and Services; and Consulting Services and Project Management. Ángela López Molina, head of the international legal department, initially formed department along with international legal counsel, Javier Pereira Carro. When they joined in 2011, the company was involved in a highly transformative process focusing on increasing its international operations. Since that time, the international business of the Group has increased from 20% to the current 60% of the total turnover of the Group. The process was challenging, since they jointly had to develop and draw the policies, procedures, models of contracts and other standard working practices of the new department. This created a large amount of work for the team from its inception, as did the rapid pace of expansion and consolidation of the Group into new territories. The team now deals with a very wide range of jurisdictions and projects. As López explains, ‘we could have an issue in the Republic of Congo one minute, and then the Republic of India or the Emirates the next’, which provides unique challenges and requires a legal department that is both versatile and talented. On top of this, Grupo San Jose’s international legal team has been involved in the Group’s flagship projects which, along with being impressive, highlight its broad area of expertise and diverse workload. Among other large projects, the team has been heavily involved in the company’s joint construction of The Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi. The team is meticulous in its quality control, exemplified by its gradual improvement of contracts, with López stating that ‘no contract is ever perfect’ and that the team insists on ‘reviewing and approving’ all agreements to ensure that the company is exposed to as little legal risk as possible. López sums up the team’s attitude passionately: ‘We understand perfectly the needs of the company, and are always looking to improve and work as hard as we can. Whenever we go to a negotiation, we have very clear in our minds what we are willing to give away and what is non-negotiable. The company values us because they know we will fight for their interest. We always like to win, and this is what we do’.