How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

As uncertainty implies risks (I would say by definition), the ability of an organisation to deal with instabilities or crisis depends crucially on its ability to assess and manage risks. In my view, in-house legal counsel’s role is predominantly about assessing legal risks and conveying them internally in an effective manner, thereby widening (rather than reducing) the opportunities for business initiatives. From this perspective, I see the role as an additional resource that Iliad can rely on to manage the unavoidable uncertainties that have been surfacing in recent years, along with those that can be anticipated in the near future. 

What are the main cases or transactions that you have been involved in recently?  

The telco sector in Italy has been going through a wave of significant M&A transactions both at infrastructure and retail level: when a M&A transaction has involved Iliad, I am involved too! A huge part of my work is also to “produce silence”, within a company, the problems that you don’t hear of, the issues that you can forget about, the confrontations that you are not involved in are usually explained by the robust background work of a committed legal team. 

 How have you integrated technology into your legal processes, and what impact has this had on efficiency and compliance?  

Embedding technology in legal processes is in itself a process that requires time, starting with accepting that technology and legal activities are not at odds with each other but can indeed complement one another. Going from 1 to 100 in no time is not feasible or desirable! The initial steps in my view are about accepting that a traditional approach to legal counsel/advice can be challenged and improved, and that not necessarily doing things the way they have always been done is the best option. 

What do you see as the major legal challenges for businesses in Italy over the next five years, and how are you preparing to address them?  

For lawyers, legal counsel and companies, to embrace and leverage the shift towards AI-based technology, to pursue increased creativity and flexibility in legal counseling and management. 

For lawyers and legal counsel to accept that asking the “right” questions may become more important than providing the right answers. 

For regulators to create “future-proof” frameworks with as little impact as possible on innovation and progress, while reducing duplication of – and potential conflicts between – sets of rules which would bring additional uncertainties (from an interpretation and enforcement perspective) to existing ones linked to a rapidly evolving and unpredictable scenario.