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

More recently, we had several very important distribution agreements completed. In addition, we actively participated in governance improvements, across all jurisdictions in Latin America where we are present. Lastly, we were responsible for implementing a pro-bono program for group legal worldwide.

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?

I believe that the set of values of a company defines its culture. A company’s culture defines its approach to the business and its business partners. That said, a law firm can only provide the best solutions to a company if they know its values and are aligned to them.

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?

In my opinion, we need to develop more and more communications skills, particularly influencing and persuasion. Lawyers must be masters in selling ideas. This skill is useful both internally and externally, in dealing with regulators and government bodies. We also need to improve our knowledge of the business. Knowing how the business operates and what are the goals of the company and of the business areas will help us providing more efficient solutions. Those abilities are not new, but the need to develop them was never as important as today.

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

In-house lawyers can build strong relationships with business partners by getting to know what their needs and their fears are, providing suitable solutions when possible, and asking the right questions.