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

Our legal team has actively participated in multiple cases, such as providing support for the project to universalise electricity for all individuals in the entire state of Maranhão, contributing directly to the social and economic development of the state, restructuring of contractual modelling to enable distributed generation business in accordance with the legal framework, encouraging the development of the activity in the country. Additionally, we have been part of the discussions of the main electric energy associations in the country, contributing to the sustainable development of the Brazilian electric sector, and reviewed and validated the Residencial Mato Grosso project, to implement urban power grid to a sizeable housing program which will provide quality electrical energy to more than 3000 residential homes.

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?

Considering the new industrial revolution and fast-paced transformations, the corporate legal team will need to ensure some skills in addition to technical skills, which shall be sought by the modern in-house industry. Some of the examples are worthy to be brought to attention on the legal scene, such as digital literacy, the ability of the safe and liable use of devices, learning software, working and navigating on digital world, data literacy, the capacity to obtain and use data with effectiveness, and critical thinking, analysing matters and situations based on evidence without considering rumours, personal opinions or prejudices. Also, it is important to mention emotional intelligence, the capacity to express and control emotions, creativity, of imagining beyond what already exists, and implementing ideas to fix problems and improve things. Other important skills are collaboration, flexibility, leadership and curiosity.

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

From my understanding, relationships between in-house lawyers and business partners must be built on trust and empathy. Uniquely conflicting scenarios and totally unbending positions, in this new era, must give room for convergence and for the practice of listening seeking joint solutions. These are the tools through which in-house lawyers should seek to develop their relationships, in order to make business viable and at the same time maintain the legal security of operations.