Bio

Pablo Olivera Masso is an accomplished legal professional with extensive experience in corporate law, currently serving as General Counsel at Aleatica since July 2018. Aleatica, part of the Australian investment fund IFM, operates in seven countries and manages significant infrastructure projects, including highways, ports, and airports.

Before joining Aleatica, Pablo was a Senior Lawyer at Economic Team and held the role of General Counsel and Corporate Affairs at WDFG, where he oversaw legal matters for a multinational retail group across 20 countries.

He began his career as a State Attorney and held several high-level positions within the Spanish government, including Director General of State Assets and Vice-President at the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales. His career also includes a partnership at Garrigues, where he specialised in commercial transactions and international deals.

With decades of experience in both the public and private sectors, Pablo has made a significant impact in the legal and corporate governance fields.

< strong> Spotlight on: My current vision of the challenges of a Europe/Latin America legal department

The challenges faced by legal departments operating across Europe and Latin America are diverse and multifaceted. One of the primary hurdles is standardising the quality and working methods of in-house lawyers. The differences in legal cultures between Europe and Latin America require time and investment in creating shared best practices. This includes aligning work attitudes, responsiveness, and maintaining high standards in legal rigor. Without such harmonisation, legal departments may face inefficiencies, frustration, and even compliance risks.

Another challenge is the diversity of legal regulations and practices across Latin America. While many European businesses tend to view the region as homogeneous, the reality is that each country has its own legal traditions, despite the shared language. Understanding the nuances of local laws and identifying reliable legal partners are crucial tasks for legal teams. The legal landscape in Latin America presents a duality, where sophisticated international practices coexist with more localised approaches that can complicate legal work.

In recent years, Latin America has been influenced by modern legal trends from Europe and North America, particularly in areas like data protection, arbitration, and ESG standards. These trends are reshaping local regulations and practices, bringing them closer to international norms.

Finally, technology, especially AI, holds promise for improving the standardisation of legal work across regions. However, while AI may eventually streamline processes in multicultural environments, it still requires further development before it can fully address the challenges of cross-border legal operations.