Focus on the modern role of the general counsel

The modern role of the general counsel represents the expansion of the legal profession. Today we must consider a broad range of corporate issues alongside the traditional legal matters. Nowadays, general counsel are the offspring of the 4º Industrial Revolution and the new social, cultural and political trends. The frequency and speed of unprecedented events are increasing daily, bringing new opportunities and risks.

Today’s general counsel possess a holistic perspective that allows them to detect and handle a wide range of matters, from the regulatory realm to social stakeholders relations, public affairs, and risk management. They should be able to understand specific subjects and bring that extra value beyond being traditional lawyers — commercial operations, communication, and environment are some of the subject areas about which general counsel should be prepared.

Risk management is one of the most defiant challenges for general counsel. Comprehensive risk assessment is part of our framework. Protecting the company implies securing property rights and fulfilling compliance duties and litigations, managing and understanding all the company’s processes and evaluating the potential risk from a business and operational edge. The holistic perspective mentioned above supplies the capability to anticipate issues and work with the company’s other executives to prevent situations instead of solving them afterwards.

In my company, this comprehensive perspective contributed to some relevant milestones. That has been the case with the successful acquisitions of multiple start-ups in the new energy and electro mobility sector and the acquisition of all the lubricant business from Exxon Mobile in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador; but also the setting of the company’s risk matrix for the energy transition that we are facing.