What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In 2022, I completed 15 years at Minerva, while the company celebrates 30 years of existence. In 2007, when I joined, it was the year that Minerva went public and, from then on, the legal team immersed itself and actively participated in all M&A processes, issuance of securities in capital markets and worked in partnership with our area of relationship with investors. We developed the areas of sustainability, compliance and today we work directly with our venture capital, energy trading and carbon market areas. We internally prepare all the thousands of contracts celebrated by the company around the world, whether financial, commercial, operational or strategic. We have a specific litigation team, which prioritises the advisory work to the business and works integrated with our accounting.

Our brands are also strategically taken care of by the legal team. I had the opportunity to practically build from scratch what today is a lean and capable team. We have committed, results-oriented professionals with an open and innovative mindset, who serve and interact with all our operational areas. We are effectively partners with the business areas and we do not simply treat them as internal customers. As an example, to add value to the business, we have team members who act as business partners.

Furthermore, we immersed ourselves in new technological methodologies and, with direct support from the IT department, we applied agile work methodologies and created an internal group focused on innovation for our area, optimising internal processes, eliminating repetitive tasks and focusing on lawyers in fully serving the business areas. We debate, practice and disseminate the values ​​of our organisational culture, considering the high level of interaction we have with teams around the world, as Minerva today has industrial units, branches and representative offices in countries on all continents and interacts in sales for more than 100 countries.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

It is essential that the legal team is a partner in the business. This implies diving into our operations, understanding the day-to-day of the different areas, their work routines, metrics and work methodologies, interacting daily with employees and being an important strategic ally. Empathy breeds trust, and high-level work and the practice of organizational values ​​generate commitment in terms of everyone focused on achieving our results. Our legal team is made up of people who wear the shirt and who are recognized for their deliveries and for practicing our organisational values ​​on a daily basis. This has been our formula for success.