Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved the way your compliance team works and didn’t come at a huge cost?

We had a huge workload to attend to in contracting services, as the purchasing department made requests to different lawyers without a criterion by specialty. To solve this, we worked with the purchasing department to design a customer service matrix that was later replicated in other areas. This matrix included a list of topics by areas and specialties, and lawyers were assigned to either take the lead and serve back-up or support roles. This allowed us to regulate workflow and better support to the purchasing area.

Furthermore, we diagrammed the key processes of our contracts with the state and created flow diagrams that allowed us to easily see the most recurring legal processes and assign managers by areas and approval authorities. This facilitated the flow of work with technical areas, generating a simple language for the contractual understanding of non-legal parties.

Finally, we standardised all the service contracts for our activities, resulting in around ten models with almost 70 variants. These were implemented with consideration for the regional, local, and technical aspects of the industry. User guides were also made for users to choose the contract model on their own, and the boundaries within which legal could services participate were stipulated.

We are currently implementing a monitoring tool for contracts and their negotiation through the CLM. This will allow us to utilise AI in choosing contracts and obtaining knowledge of negotiations. This tool could not have been applied without the standardisation of contractual models.

What are some of the key developments (legal, geopolitical, or otherwise) that have affected your business over the past year?

The energy transition in its two aspects at a global level. The Paris Agreements and the commitments outlined by the COP are an especially important challenge for our industry. Repsol is the first oil and gas company in the world to adhere to the Net Zero Emissions obligation by 2050 and these commitments are impacting business lines through clear and forceful circular economy actions, changes in processes to reduce emissions and capture carbon, and significant investment in renewable energy.

The new European legislation in this sense has pushed us to become a clean energy company. This requires extraordinary effort, a high capacity for innovation, resilience, and adaptation.

Geopolitically, the invasion of Ukraine has been a huge challenge in terms of international sanctions, reviewing agreements with Russian companies, and has impacted prices and logistics. In Bolivia, there is a great challenge to reinvent the industry and the future of this sector is being negotiated with the State, which, among other aspects, requires many contractual and legal reforms.

How do you think the internal legal role will evolve in the coming years?

The development of Artificial Intelligence and the increasing relevance of compliance and ESG will shape the future of the legal role. Lawyers will need to develop soft skills in negotiation, digitalisation and build relationships with stakeholders. They will become more fluid in their roles, and go beyond advising on the legal matters, focusing on strategic plans with internal and external stakeholders.

Do you use any legal technology products and, if so, for what areas of your work do you find them most useful?

We use and constantly develop the CLM – a tool that included our standardisation of model contracts and classifies its use by the contract holder and the purchasing and contracts department. It also tracks changes, generates queries, and makes suggestions. The next step is to implement AI, using the company’s blockchain, which will allow the AI to suggest clauses, among others.

We also use SAP for billing and for specific tasks and legal milestone for compliance monitoring. We use Infoleyes, a Bolivian regulatory inventory tool with updated regulations.