About

Garbarino is a leading Argentine retail company selling household appliances, electronics and computer products, bringing the latest technology to its customers by operating in more than 110 locations throughout the country. Serving as head legal manager, Esteban Cappello joined Garbarino in May 2012, when the company had no legal department. He accepted the challenge to set up and develop the legal team which now contains eight lawyers and two office staff, managing all legal aspects of the company ranging from litigation, trademarks, tax, to contracts and real estate. During the past three years, Cappello and his team have contributed significantly in negotiating various transactions and agreements, including a corporate investment transaction with a start-up enterprise, an assets transfer agreement of one subsidiary company to Mulesoft, and a multilateral investment agreement that manages funds for import substitutions. The team’s substantial involvement in litigation include 13 class action suits relating to consumer protection law and two tax cases ruled by the Supreme Court of Argentina. In addition, headed by Cappello, the legal department implemented two software programmes that provide great assistance to the company’s legal sector, allowing documents and contracts to leave traceable digital footprints where almost all employees and legal service providers of the company can interact dynamically. In his role as head legal manager, Cappello highlights the importance of internal knowledge of the corporate dynamic and decision-making process. ‘Before this position, I had only worked in courts and law firms and it’s incredible how different it is to be on the other side’, he says. Prior to joining Garbarino, Cappello had built up his in-house career by working at technology products company Compumundo for four years, before which he gained experiences from both law firms and courts.