Team size: Seven

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The number one challenge this year has definitely been the acquisition of Termochilca. The transaction was structured under a private bid and had the particularity that Termochilca was a “stressed” asset. The transaction involved the intervention of eight shareholders, three senior lenders, one bondholder and a fiduciary. The challenge was to align all stakeholders’ interests and present a competitive offer along with an attractive SPA mark-up to be the bid’s winner. As well as this, because of the company’s financial situation, the closing of the transaction had to be executed in a short time frame in order to take control of the asset as fast as the regulatory approvals were granted. The in-house team met all performance standards required for the acquisition.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

Many people and colleagues are posting about AI. I am sure plenty of lawyers have seen news about AI preparing a defense strategy for a client, contract drafting and providing legal assistance regarding law and jurisprudence. Some people see this as a threat to the actual work lawyers provide and others as an opportunity to render efficient work. As with all new technology, the uncertainty of the unknown comes with fear and excitement, but I see it as the latter. AI can be resourceful for gathering information for negotiations, mass production of documents that already have templates, jurisprudence comparison among similar cases, automatic report generation on cases, clerical work and such other housekeeping matters that will benefit in a considerable reduction of operative workload for lawyers.

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

I discovered sustainability at this job. In my previous roles, I learned about some of the sustainable philosophy but have never been involved in actively participating in it. At Celepsa I understood the motor of sustainability and how we must drive our business in better and more efficient ways. Such credo has also grown in me, and I have learned how to conduct myself thinking in a sustainable way and being conscious of the tasks I have to complete in order to reduce my carbon footprint. The legal profession can contribute a lot, not only in passing laws and policies, but also in our daily work. For instance, the pandemic forced the legal industry to review documents without printing them, execute agreements with a digital signature, travelling to meet clients or meetings were replaced by video calls and even working from home was allowed, thus CO2 emissions on printing, commuting and travelling was significantly reduced. Nowadays, we find these practices regular, so we must keep on introducing and adopting skills from other professions since law is still practiced under traditional standards. If we dare to continue innovating, I am sure we will find substantial more ways to collaborate with a sustainable world.