An interview with Andriani Ferti, General Counsel at PNOE in Greece.
How would you describe the state of the GC Community in your region? How has it changed since you first moved in-house?
The legal profession in Greece is very saturated, and in general, it requires a lot of modernisation in many respects (including becoming more business friendly). Moreover, unfortunately, the opportunities to exchange practical knowledge, playbooks, and develop a business perspective in providing legal advice are less common. In a similar vein, the GC community lacks the opportunity to network and exchange practical advice, or develop international / outward facing practices. The latter is changing day by day, and the development of a number of startup / scaleup companies in Greece with sales in various geographical latitudes and longitudes has helped in making GCs and in-house lawyers getting ideas from abroad, and translating them into the Greek legal ecosystem.
Why is expanding your network important to you? What kinds of connections or discussions would be most valuable to you?
A GC needs to expand their network both among their peers, but also get better contacts into business, as this is the way better to grasp how business works, and become a real growth facilitator.
Similarly, more discussions on playbooks, and automation, and exchange of similar expertise would be key to a GC trying to help a business expand fast, but also in a healthy manner.
What do you want to achieve by collaborating with other GCs and senior in-house lawyers? Are there specific topics, challenges, or experiences you’d like to share or learn more about?
My response to the previous question has partially answered this question, but specific questions / experiences I would like to exchange include:
