Focus on healthcare and technology

Being legal counsel in a healthcare technology company has given me a strong purpose in my work as a lawyer. Legal counsel are not only legal advisors, but business enablers and strategic partners, serving our customers and patients. The knowledge that, behind each negotiation that we assist, are patients who will be impacted, has greatly increased the importance of the role.

As internal counsel, we work closely with the business and other functions, which allows us to understand the business, take part in the decision-making processes, and add value to the organisation. A key part of the role of legal counsel goes beyond the identification of risks, and involves the proposal of mitigation actions, as well as taking measured risks.

At Medtronic, I had the opportunity to lead the Latin America Contracts Center of Expertise, a team focused on: simplifying operations and processes; sharing best practices among Latin America and with other regions; harmonising and standardising agreements; and drafting templates of the most common legal agreements, to allow internal stakeholders to utilise templates without involving legal. This created centralisation at a regional level.