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

Challenges related to the pandemic have introduced the need to adapt our organisation to such an exceptional context. Under this scenario, we have been working on a new remote working scheme for management and administrative employees, and the safe return to our production premises. COVID-19 restrictions have implied the need to enhance the dialogue with authorities and other stakeholders such as the labour unions, the analysis of different regulations, the deployment of several internal policies and the renegotiation of certain agreements involving our operation. Furthermore, significant efforts have been made to ensure the supply of raw materials despite the complex global and local scenarios.

We have boosted our B2C channel, accelerating its expansion in our points of sales and main retailers within the region. This has involved a huge change to several business areas of the company, and the need to restructure the agreements with our suppliers and B2B customers.

We have led the merger process between Electrolux Argentina and Frimetal, focused on reducing the complexity and creating new synergies in our operation.

The company has made several investments to improve our productive structure. We also have been working closely to the business to make our first export to Uruguay and Paraguay.

We have reassessed our consumers’ journey, which resulted in the partial relocation of our operation, the replacement of several service providers, including changes in our way of working that have improved our customer´s experience.

Lastly, we have prepared and deployed a corporative relation´s plan which has made possible to have a closer relationship with our main stakeholders by creating more synergies to drive different initiatives for our industry.

Which recent political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most?

Restrictions in our operations linked to the pandemic have implied severe limitations on our operation, the procurement of raw materials, as well as substantial changes in the way we carry out our business.

We have been improving our relationships with governments and suppliers to ensure the raw materials necessary to maintain our operation, in a context of severe limitations to fulfil payments abroad.

Finally, we have worked together with the governments and commercial chambers on different initiatives, to stimulate production and consumption and in the drafting of regulations involving energy efficiency.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why?

It is extremely important the legal department is business-oriented, having a complete understanding of the company´s mission and vision, contributing to the achieving great results.

It is essential for an in-house lawyer to be perceived as a real business partner and to provide the organisation with a wide range of legal understanding of the challenges ahead, helping to balance and mitigate legal risks related to the core business.