Team size: Three
Major legal advisers: Hogan Lovells, Gomez Acebo & Pombo, PLMJ, Garrigues, Broseta Abogados

What are the most significant cases or transactions you and your team have been involved in?

Ford España legal has been involved in the following major transactions of the company: (i) competition investigation for the exchanges of information between 19 OEMs in the automotive sector (€20m fine plus potential damages actions); (ii) recovery of damages against a supplier for defective cells supplied for assembling electrical batteries (€700m); (iii) deal to outsource the wholesale financing business of Ford Credit with Ford dealers; (iv) one of the first contractual disputes in the country with a third-party expert after the termination of a dealer agreement; (v) the insolvency of a distress supplier threatening to stop the production line of our manufacturing plant; (vi) €10m claim against a supplier for a field service action (massive recall of cars for defective parts supplied); (vii) recovery of more than €2m of former dealer that misappropriated the amounts paid by customers to purchase their cars; (viii) hiring Climate Change Office to reduce the emission rights of the plant; (ix) launch of the e-commerce platform of Ford in Spain; (x) several collective definitive and temporary separations both in our manufacturing plant in the marketing and sales operations.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

They can build trust by learning business acumen of the company while supporting them with their flexible approach on business growth. To help the company progress, in-house counsel have to accept the right level of risk.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

We learnt to build personal as well as professional relationships online; trust remains the same, but more flexibilities are allowed in terms of online contracts, e-signatures, processing of data, and better use of online tools. Flexibility became key to combat against challenges came with the pandemic: becoming experts in suspending but not terminating contracts; justifying the interruption of the supply of products due to the crisis while finding a way to avoid liability; changing the conditions of agreements to restore contractual balance due to the consecutive crisis.