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

The pandemic had a significant impact on the world of work for in-house counsel and companies. At Rizzani de Eccher, 90 percent of our turnover comes from abroad. The impossibility of travelling and restriction to borders, substantially reduced our trips out of Italy. It has been really complicated to manage several contracts and many clients took advantage of the pandemic to breach contractual clauses. In addition, we had to manage high risks linked to the increase of the overall prices of raw materials due to unforeseeable circumstances.

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

Our legal team has just been able to finalise $400m contracts in the Republic of Ghana in relation to the some projects (including a cathedral, a hospital and other projects.). We secured a €200m deal for the new headquarter of the European Investment Bank in Luxemburg. The Rizzani de Eccher legal team, has also been involved in the final arbitration hearing against a state of the Gulf for a total of $300m.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why?

The advice I would give to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel would be to be pragmatic and to never be scared to take advantage of challenging situations; instead, use them as opportunities to grow professionally.