Interview with: Oana Ijdelea, Founding Partner

What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capability?

On a professional level, the hard-working team put together over the years at Ijdelea & Associates is one of my greatest achievements. Our team of highly motivated and very bright lawyers has succeeded to tackle with ease complex deals and to deliver quality work and first of their kind accomplishments in a competitive legal market.

From a personal perspective, my greatest achievement is having reached the point of balance between work time and family time, without sparing on quality either way.

What do you do differently from your peers in the industry?

The overall ability to be fit-for-purpose in our client’s projects, providing sound, precise and pragmatic advice and at the same time successfully implementing such advice and delivering the expected results are particular strengths of our firm. In our work, we focus on understanding the technicalities of each assignment and on rendering sensible solutions in straightforward language and manner. I strongly believe that robust and solution-offering legal advice is what actually helps our clients in their decision-making process.

Additionally, we are a multidisciplinary and yet complementary team of lawyers driven by dedication, inclusion, teamwork, and cooperation, all these leading to top quality cross practice legal advice.

On another level, we are continuously involved in the process of drafting of primary and secondary legislation in unregulated areas, transposition of EU Directives as well as amending and updating existing legislation.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Enjoy the ride, my little one! You have embarked on a great journey. As for all young and enthusiastic people, advancing in your career one step at a time, learning patience and its meaning will be hardest but it will reveal a different dimension of the world once you understand it. Eventually, all good things will happen at the right time!

Can you give me a practical example of how the firm helped a client add value to the business?

Our involvement in the execution of the provided advice has always been a value adding factor to the projects and transactions handled by us. Building on the ability to understand the technical mandatory requirements, challenges, and limitations, we were particularly successful in designing a tailored and fit-for-purpose roadmap for first-to-market investments among which we mention: the first fully private onshore gas production facility, one of the first wind farms and the first new offshore gas production project.

Within your sector, what do you think will be the biggest challenge for clients over the next 12 months?

Readjustment and resilience continue to be the key words for 2022 as well. History teaches us that regardless of the difficulties, the world moves forward. The ability to adjust in the long term to the new businesses models implemented by clients, like the work-from-home regime, and to timely deliver the same quality of work will separate the victorious from the rest. The not-so-bad news is that the root cause of the fundamental swifts brought by the COVID-19 pandemic affected all of us in a likewise manner and therefore, change (in any direction), will come to pass in the same way.