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

The crisis imposed by the pandemic required, and continues to demand, a more pre-litigation, propositional and conciliatory performance from our team. This change in attitude made concrete results possible through good agreements instead of difficult discussions before the judiciary. The entire team – from junior to senior lawyers – was instructed to try to conciliate, including those cases where litigation was likely to result.

The option for negotiation saves resources, time, effort and money for companies. Our records point to an increase of more than 20% in agreements entered, in or out of court. The sample covers more critical situations, whose understanding of the matters involved, the strong regulation and specificities of the payment industry, put the parties in doubt about the result of their demands.

By the way, characteristics and singularities of the electronic means of payment industry are still unknown by members of the judiciary. That said, I believe that it is up to the lawyer to play an important role in disseminating concepts, rules, risk distribution, among other specifics, to judges, judges, members of the Public Ministry, lawyers from class associations, among other operators of law. Cielo’s legal team works and will continue to work to disseminate this information. 

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? 

Undoubtedly. The pandemic accelerated numerous initiatives, such as the “compulsory” implementation of the home office regime, digital contracts, electronic signatures. There was resistance from law operators and company executives to dive into these practices that already existed, however, were little explored. 

The legal team’s interactions with the other areas increased considerably, especially due to the numerous uncertainties that impacted several existing contracts with customers, suppliers, partners and even the relationship with employees. Such uncertainties demanded a new look at legal relations, guided by good faith and adapted to the provisional measures that were edited to guarantee a minimum of stability in relations.

Imagine a scenario where “force majeure” (although many jurists have disagreed about the status imposed by the pandemic) did not impact just one side of the legal relationship, but both! Advances in the negotiations required the active and immediate participation of the legal teams. It is at the time of crisis that we recognize the good professional. I guarantee that the entire team was imbued with the strategy, the scenario and the necessary skills so that everyone could, hand in hand, overcome difficult times. I emphasize, once again, the number of extrajudicial agreements signed. Bringing the lawyer to the negotiating table was excellent! The lawyer is the first judge of cases. He must make a careful internal filter to align his legal knowledge with the expectations and interests of the company, being reasonable and diligent in always recommending the best alternative. That is, one that mitigates risks and effectively contributes to results.

After this time of crisis, the legal team continues to be recognized as part of the companies’ strategy, whose challenge is to connect with all other areas to bring agility, security, credibility and results. 

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? 

Who would have thought that, long ago, we would have state-of-the-art technology capable of significantly facilitating the lives of legal teams, such as robots for capturing and pre-registering processes, developing predictive models for litigation and legal advice in all areas? The famous ChatGPT that, for some, means the beginning of the replacement of the law professional, has already been followed by many professionals and for much longer. We cannot deny the value of technology, but it is constantly evolving. 

It is possible that there are already predictive models that manage to anticipate the filing of lawsuits by customers and initiate differentiated service, which values ​​the Customer’s experience and avoids filing lawsuits. This is where specialized areas and companies must work. Currently, we at Cielo are implementing a predictive model based on our history of cases accumulated over these more than 20 years! It is an initiative that will generate data modelling revalidations until reaching the maximum level of accuracy possible! In this case, the greater the accuracy, the smaller the impacts, costs and efforts. I think that many legal teams already use good software and legal solutions, but there is room for the popularization and implementation of artificial intelligence. Thus, reality will truly transform. 

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use? Examples could be greater flexibility in billing, a more expansive suite of services offered, more transparency in reporting ESG statistics etc. 

Law firms need to be more engaged in the issue of diversity, especially large firms that continue to hire professionals trained only in what are considered “top universities”. It is also necessary to give more opportunities to more experienced people, whose background and trained look at different situations can contribute significantly. There are even offices that support companies in causes related to people with disabilities that do not have their own policies for hiring or retaining professionals with disabilities. This is a real contradiction. It’s past time for offices to be diligent about the issue. Only then can we envision a better scenario. 

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? 

The legal team must be the greatest experts in the business of the company they work for. The commitment to understand the workflows, profiles and skills of the people who make up the team, processes, logic and benefits of technology is essential. Therefore, people cannot stop interacting. They need to be open to learning and have team spirit. Achieving goals, something so sought after by companies, is the result of everyone’s effort. In this way, we will be able to contribute to our companies and to the sustainability of the businesses if we respect people and their particularities. It’s a virtuous circle.