How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

Covid-19 impacted general counsel at a variety of levels – a more intense focus on operations, a greater reliance on technology and an increased scrutiny of budget and resources. The areas that have been profoundly impacted are strategic advice, internalisation of large portions of work and the rise of ESG and stakeholder engagement. Pre-pandemic the legal team would provide technical advice when required, now it is expected to contribute to business discussions and strategic decision-making. The in-house legal team occupied a key position in providing advice and taking leadership in project management as well as mediating the fragmentation between parties created by remote working. Covid acted as a catalyst for ESG consideration and stakeholder engagement – maintaining a healthy dialogue with all the stakeholders is a crucial element for a general counsel to contribute to decision-making, assess and manage risks across the organisation.

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The Pillarstone legal team has been involved in some of the most sophisticated transactions during the past few years. Given the nature of the platform, the legal team works on extremely diverse areas of law such as financial restructurings, corporate finance, M&A, general corporate law, regulatory, structured and leveraged finance, and compliance. Some of the most notable cases are the fundraising and launch of two alternative investment funds with aggregate assets under management exceeding €1bn into investing portfolios of debt receivables vis-à-vis European corporate borrowers; several financial restructurings of European corporates, using a variety of techniques and legal structures, including the first-of-its-kind public-to-private transaction of an Italian company; a project regarding a granular real estate receivable portfolio with a gross book value amounting to approximately €1.2bn launched by the largest Italian bank and intended to be implemented through the identification of an investor. Additionally, negotiations with co-bidders, global investment firms, investors and advisor took place, as well as settlement of disputes across several European jurisdictions, including France and Greece.

What do you feel are the pros and cons of an in-house legal role compared to a private practice one?

The key pros from my perspective are – being a generalist able to operate on a broad canvas and have breadth across various domains to provide valuable advice; the opportunity to blur the lines between a principal and a counsel and participate in strategic decision-making (as opposed to being a mere advisor); having a broader understanding of the entire business that goes beyond mere legal, technical considerations. On the other hand, a general counsel can sometimes feel quite lonely therefore building a network of fellow in-house lawyers is crucial.