First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently?

CAF promotes sustainable development and regional integration through a dossier of financial products including credit lines, term loans, non-refundable resources or grants and technical and financial assistance to support the structuring of projects in the public and private sectors in Latin America. I am part of the Non-Sovereign Risk Legal Department, which supports the Private Sector Vice-presidency (VSP), CAF’s private sector arm. VSP’s focus is to support the achievement of sustainable development goals by fostering private sector business initiatives through debt and equity instruments, including venture capital and structured financial products, among others. Within the team, I am mostly involved in structured products, particularly project finance. With the Non-Sovereign Risk Legal Department, I support the origination, structuring and portfolio administration of transactions, identifying, managing and mitigating legal risks arising from complex structured products, project guarantees, A/B loans or less complex products, such as credit lines and equity investments. I am based in Uruguay, and I cover all CAF’s members countries, supporting clients throughout the project cycle from inception to final repayment.

The most recent closing in which I participated was the issuance of a partial credit guarantee (together with other guarantee providers) in favor of BNDES, who financed the construction and operation of Line 6 of Sao Paulo’s metro, sponsored by Acciona.

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

Gender equality. I have seen how much our work environment has changed within the last 15 years and I can see how much it still needs to change. I think in-house lawyers have a relevant role to implement those changes, and while we have gone far, we should keep working towards promoting and recognising leadership in women and making sure to use every available opportunity to empower each other.

What can law firms do to improve their service to the legal department?

Embrace not only excellence culture, but also, service culture. To provide a truly remarkable service, I believe firms need to objectively listen to our concerns to try to understand our corporate structures as well as internal processes, to genuinely prioritise the client when providing their service. Also, thinking ahead on pros and cons of those business decisions which are under analysis, is always a great plus. Those advisors, who understand the client and prioritise a service approach, are the ones one wants to come back to, once and again.