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

Recently Banco Toyota decided to incorporate two companies, a consortium, and an insurance broker. This was very significant for the legal department because we were involved in many activities regarding the constitution of such companies, such as the creation of the Bylaws, contracts and other legal assistance to the shareholder and all involved areas in this project.

Did the pandemic lead to a lasting increase in the interaction your legal team has with the strategic plans of the company?

The shareholders and the management became more aware of the legal impacts (in this case the pandemic) in the business. Various alternatives to control the impact of the pandemic in the business were discussed with the legal team, focusing on long term initiatives, allied with the expected level of legal security.

The pandemic positively opened the range of situations that legal team were involved, to help not only with legal counselling but to help the management in multidisciplinary groups that were created to deal the pandemic and its effects.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

It is very important to choose external lawyers aligned with the company’s value as well as the business objectives and internal policies. When external lawyers reach a high level of interaction and understanding of the company’s values and objectives, their interactions become more synergised, meaning that less effort is necessary to achieve both external lawyer and company’s objectives.

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?

Adaptability and speed in serving the internal client are the main points that I believe are necessary for the legal department to meet its objective of advising its internal clients and shareholders, allied with the technical quality of the services provided by the legal department. These factors of adaptability and speed are highly necessary skills nowadays.