Team size: 10

LATAM countries your role covers: North Mexico, Central and South America

What are the most significant cases and transactions in the LATAM region that you or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Supplier agreements. This commences with the very first contact (preparation of NDA) and involves development, support, SaaS, PaaS, research, and provision of 3rd party data services. The value of the agreements depends on the materiality of the supplier and the scope thereof.

Data protection. I am also responsible for coordinating data protection compliance within the region, serving as a direct extension of the global DPO (based in Paris). We are currently in an important process of enhancing regional data protection and privacy compliance in order to meet EU standards (beyond what is required under local laws).

Cybersecurity. I am liaising with the IT team in order to keep a close eye on the state of our IT infrastructure, improvements, and developments thereof, ensuring that this is happening within the regulatory framework. This is especially important for recent technologies such as AI.

Internal affairs. I am also in charge of other non-client or non-supplier affairs, such as those related to HR (for example, review of C-level contracts), legal representation of companies, M&As, and elaboration of internal procedures and policies.

What are your organisations plans in the LATAM region over the next 12 months and how will your legal expertise help to achieve these plans?

One of the main contingencies within the region is the lack of homogeneity across different countries due to inconsistencies between regulations and practices. This is in the process of being tackled by creating a strong and consistent data protection and compliance framework applicable across the region and taking EU, UK, and US laws as a basis. Particularly considering our industry, transparency and trust are one of the main pillars, and we are going beyond basic compliance and implementing a program that strives to ensure GDPR-like robustness and strong anti-money laundering schemes.

Additionally, I would like to implement a mechanism to effectively share knowledge and ask for advice across the region as, currently, the countries are more hermetic, perhaps partially due to regulatory fragmentation. The idea behind is to keep building regional practices striving for effectiveness and efficiency.

How do you adapt your legal counselling to align with the diverse business practices and customs of various LATAM countries?

It is essential to know the business, including the services provided, suppliers and partners engaged, and key people within the organisation to go to when fast problem-solving is required. This knowledge is not static but dynamic, in the sense of almost being obligated to remain updated, especially with new technology and solutions arising every day.

Also, and particularly in the region, I believe that, as a coordinator, you should have a feeling of belonging to the region, and being available for the countries while also continuously empowering them to take meaningful decisions.

Lastly, communication key. On a daily basis, all departments concerned should be involved in a project from the beginning of its formation, in order to allow tweaks during the process and not at the end, where there is little to no room for said changes.