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

I have dedicated myself to working in legal departments of companies across various sectors, including industry and finance, covering areas such as labor law, civil law, ombudsman services, and compliance. 2023 has proven to be a particularly challenging year as several cases under my responsibility, deemed significant, have made considerable progress. This required deep strategic analysis, countless hours of study, meetings, negotiations, and above all, a close relationship with business areas and partnership with external law firms, all aligned towards the same goal.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

To be successful as an in-house lawyer in the industrial sector, a set of unique qualities beyond technical legal knowledge is necessary. These qualities reflect the complexity and dynamics of the industrial corporate environment, and the need for constant adaptation and innovation such as a deep understanding of the Industrial sector; communication and negotiation skills; strategic vision and analytical ability; flexibility and adaptability; ethics and integrity; risk management; teamwork and leadership; and commitment to continuous learning.

These qualities, combined with a solid legal knowledge and a passion for corporate law, position a professional to achieve success in the industrial sector.

How have you fostered a closer collaboration between the legal department and your business counterparts?

Collaboration between the legal department and business partners is essential, and as a corporate lawyer, I take the liberty of citing some measures that help build bridges of communication, align objectives, and ensure that legal and business decisions complement each other.

The lawyer must have business knowledge, with sufficient immersion to understand its operations, products, markets, and business challenges. This allows the lawyer to provide legal advice that not only protects the company from legal risks but also supports its business goals.

Proactive and clear communication; speaking openly in a clear and objective manner and avoiding legal jargon is key to fostering collaboration. Furthermore, strategic participation by being involved from the beginning of the project allows for the proactive identification of potential legal issues and working on solutions that add value to the business.

Sharing knowledge with business partners and your own team helps the non-legal team better understand legal risks, integrates areas, and levels the discussion.

Creating a culture that values multidisciplinary collaboration, recognising and celebrating shared successes, can help break down silos between departments and promote a more integrated and cooperative work environment.

By adopting these strategies, the corporate lawyer can play a central role in promoting effective collaboration between the legal department and business partners, thus contributing to the long-term success and sustainability of the company.

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

In the business realm, one passion I have translates into my continuous effort to promote access to knowledge, balance among people’s relationships, attention to good social practices, and corporate governance that promote ethics, transparency, and responsibility. I believe that companies have a crucial role to play in building a fairer and more equitable society, and I see my role as a corporate lawyer as a bridge that facilitates this process.