Focus on challenges as opportunities

After two years of pandemic and with major geopolitical changes, saying that the world has changed is no news. There is a new normal scenario, where uncertainty and evolution are permanent.

In an ever-changing market, where there is a lot to be created, the role of legal teams seems different than it was in the past. Financial knowledge, merchandising and operations notions, being on top of tech developments are a must to actively participate in the design thinking process of new business models and revenue streams. That is what makes the difference for in-house counselling, having detailed knowledge of both customer and business, having the ability not to say no to new initiatives whenever risks arise, but to participate in how to make them happen. As general counsels, we can find support in external law firms but what we will be never able to find outside our team is the profound understanding of our customer in our evolving retail industry, deepen our mission and vision expressed in our very own value proposition, whichever it is.

Being able to satisfy our end customer, teaming up with the business as peers, implies much more than a legal challenge. It also requires attorneys to understand and analyse all stakeholders impacted by business, to ensure that we are making the right decision, understand the possibilities and risks that technology brings, as well as communicate transparently and timely. In practice, as in-house lawyers, we should feel entitled and called to ask, add or challenge financial figures, sales forecasts, return on investments, and tech choices, because we do know our customer and we must join the team to imagine how our next 3 years will look like, as an active part of the construction of that dream.

This also means that we need to rethink our team and structures. Tech and data professionals teaming up with lawyers to go from reactive to predictive in our analysis has improved our results in litigation and contracts negotiation.

While a challenge, this is also an opportunity for attorneys who in the past were meant to develop a career in legal and compliance teams only. Today, there is a possibility for all of us to pursue careers in areas that until a few years ago, were reserved for professionals with financial, merchandising, or operational background. If we decide to go further in our traditional role of accompanying the business, by leading the company along with the CEO and their team, we can take our career wherever we would like to.

However, the challenge does not sit in ourselves and our individual efforts only. This is also a call to action to the Chilean academy from legal and business areas to broaden up their scope, to form comprehensive and collaborative professionals that can sit in the driver’s seat or become a co-pilot indistinctly.