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?

I understand that jurimetrics platforms and the use of audiovisual resources in procedural documents in visual law format will be the major trends in the legal market in the future. The first is so that the decisions of institutions are based on data and statistical analysis in a dynamic and agile way. The second is to bring companies closer to legal teams, facilitating the understanding of defensive arguments, which should be clear, objective and without technicalities.

At Banco Bmg, we already use both technological resources and, based on these, we carry out periodic visits to other legal teams, in regions where the percentage of sentencing is higher, where the average number of convictions is higher and where there is concentrated activity of qualified lawyers as repeat offenders, which leveraged our percentage of success by more than 10% in mass civil actions, reaching 63% of success, allowing us to share insights with business partners, improving our sales process to reduce the rate of filing of new lawsuits.

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?

For a legal team to be successful, in addition to the technical capacity, which is inherent to the profession, it must act as a protagonist and business partner, not only using technology and data for an efficient management of the portfolio of cases, but also to identify the causes that generate lawsuits, so that the areas involved in the operation are supported and, in this way, the risks of the emergence of new lawsuits are mitigated.

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

In order for in-house lawyers to build relationships with business partners, they need to put themselves in the shoes of their colleagues, understanding their needs and expectations. In addition, the in-house lawyer must use objective language, providing business partners with all the information and data necessary. This way, the lawyer’s performance will not be merely technical, but supportive and pro-business, making the expectations of business partners compatible with the legislation and interests of the institution, proposing the best way to make the operation viable, within what is possible.