External lawyers? We want them to be our partners

Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Three countries with their own local regulations and regulatory changes that affect each real estate market very differently.

Andrea Viale, global head of legal affairs at Idealista, the real estate platform, oversees coordinating these multi-jurisdictional legal teams. Something that she herself defines as very enriching and one of the keys to the success of Idealista’s legal team.

by julia gil

After almost 7 years in the company, what do you consider to be the greatest achievement?

In these 7 years we have grown exponentially to become the largest digital real estate platform in Southern Europe. In recent years we participated in what was the largest transaction in the history of the digital sector in Spain (purchase of Idealista by EQT) and we acquired more than 10 companies (most of them outside Spain) in a period of 2 years.

And for you…

To create the legal team that we have today in Idealista and with which we have been able to achieve all these milestones. Being part of the company’s history and being able to share it with the professionals that make up the legal team is my greatest achievement.

How has the team evolved nationally and globally?

Since 2021, the legal team has grown to seven lawyers with the addition of two new female lawyers for Portugal and Italy, respectively. We have created a compliance team, consisting of three people who also provide services for all group companies in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. We have also evolved certain functions to optimize our resources.

Do you usually work with external law firms or lawyers, and what qualities should these teams have?…

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