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

Acting as business partners, our legal team has been advising on new go-to-market strategies, implementation of new compliance controls, review of data protection policies and procedures, protection of trademarks and patents, especially on counterfeit cases and corporate changes with positive impact to the company.

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

The pandemic brought lots of lessons. The virtual connection helped the interaction with people in different locations and the ability to interact more with leadership teams in different countries and headquarters. As a very positive outcome, the share of information seems to be faster in the post pandemic digital and virtual reality.

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?

External lawyers play a very important role as they must act as business partner and understand company needs and weaknesses. I always choose external law firms based on their ability to understand our business’ needs and take actions with high quality and ethical standards.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

The digital world is a reality. We need to work with people in different locations and take advantage of all technological tools that are available in the market for that. Also, we need to use technology for our legal controls and archive in order to simplify our daily activities.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Putting yourself in the shoes of your business partners is key to understand their priorities and needs. Once this happens, an in-house lawyer will have the ability to anticipate most concerns and questions. As a result, the relationship will develop and become strong with good level of communication and trust.

The unusual business environment created by the pandemic has been swiftly followed by other shocks. Are you now putting more emphasis on preparing for the unforeseen and, if so, what does this entail?

Absolutely. The unforeseen is a reality and I consider this daily, ensuring the continuity of work in our department. In my opinion, the sharing of information and development of talent people is key for our success.

What are some of the main legislative or regulatory changes that have impacted you?

Labour and tax laws are always changing, and we must constantly accommodate the business to those changes. This is a continued effort that impacts in-house lawyers on a daily basis, as we have the need to be 100% compliant with local laws.