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

Due to recent regulatory changes, our business team saw an opportunity to develop a new insurance product, which initially required legal analysis from the regulatory point of view, but with reflections on corporate, corporate, tax and contractual governance. This is the development project of Agrymetric, an innovative agroclimatic parametric insurance, in partnership with two other companies, and we believe that it will revolutionise the risk management of agricultural production in Brazil. The project ended up justifying a very interesting corporate restructuring, involving different legal aspects and bringing new challenges.

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 changes in the interaction between departments, especially considering the extensive use of platforms for virtual meetings, such as Microsoft Teams, Skype and Zoom, which increased the productivity of teams, as remote work eliminated commuting to and from the office, as well as bringing more punctuality to appointments. These two characteristics remained even after the height of the pandemic and we still see these benefits today. On the other hand, it is clear that the return to face-to-face work, which, in our case, became mandatory three times a week, was also welcome, as it brought the benefits of social interaction and a more humane treatment in the relationships between the teams.

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 inevitable that, over time, law firms will be those that have the greatest synergy with the company, whether for their expertise and technical excellence, or for the way people relate to each other, respecting priorities, accepting criticism and building strategies together. The focus on the long-term relationship should be a point of attention for law firms, so that it is possible to perceive these synergies from the sharing of common values. In addition, the market is already behaving in such a way as to ascertain and favor companies and law firms that have specific programs, in order to address certain values, such as the cultures of compliance, data protection and ESG. Therefore, I believe that values ​​will be increasingly taken into account as factors in choosing partners.

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

The relationship is built with time, trust, respect and humility. It is important to know how to listen, accept criticism, understand mistakes, so that they can improve their skills and develop professionally, including relationships with business partners.