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

Luckily, our team has been involved in a very wide range of subjects, which means that the work is never monotonous. Over the last year, in addition to the day-to-day development of the projects that Lightsource bp has in the pipeline in Portugal, which due to the size of the projects was very diverse, we have been involved in M&A processes, cross-border financing, hybridisation of projects and the development of storage and green hydrogen projects. This is only possible because at Lightsource bp all the teams, including the legal team, work in an integrated manner.

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense? 

It’s not exactly an innovation, but more a feature of Lightsource bp: the fact that my colleagues in the UK who work closely with the Portuguese team are proactively committed to understanding the issues and participating in the design of the legal solutions for them, instead of treating every issue equally, makes the legal team part of the decision-making processes and respected among the business teams. Of course, external lawyers are key to the business, and we are fortunate to work with some of the best, but their services can be focused on strategic matters or to support the team during high peaks of work.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why? 

I know it may seem like a cliché these days, but mental health is a topic that concerns many people in our sector and all of us can relate to it. The legal profession, whether external or in-house, is demanding, does not fit into a 9 to 6 schedule and requires us to be constantly updated. It also requires enormous organizational skills to manage external and internal clients and our personal lives. At Lightsource bp we work in a positive environment where people are put at the centre and teams look after each other as they keep their drive to deliver projects.