About

Juan Carlos Valdivieso, general counsel of Prime Energía, has greatly impressed since his arrival into the in-house legal market in 2017. He moved in-house having previous executive experience with more than seven years in private practice achieving a considerable amount early in his legal career at the age of 31. He highlights that, ‘the change itself, though, was not all that unexpected, because I always liked the business-side of things; and even as an outside counsel I always strived to get involved and “understand” the client’s business as much as I could. That is maybe why I ended up working with companies in so many different industries’. Highlights of his tenure include the closing of a project financing for over US$400m, for the construction of five new projects which will triple the company’s installed generation capacity in Chile. This was closed in conjunction with the execution of the EPC contracts for those plants, and the securing of some of the land sites, and some governmental permits. He identifies that this was made it very challenging since the internal team (development, financing, operations, plus the legal department) had to be present across all those aspects. Valdivieso has worked to increase the stature of the in-house legal department within Prime Energía, from scratch, as there was no team prior to his arrival. He highlights that, ‘working for an ambitious, dynamic and fast-growing company has been a big part of who I am becoming as an in-house lawyer. The fact that every day brings a new potential project, market or jurisdiction to the table, suits my attitude towards work, but also assures there is no one dull moment. Related to that, I am convinced I arrived at the company at the right time, when roles were still not 100% defined, which allowed me to decide in part what that role could be’.