About

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department?

The team is responsible for handling all disputes the Shell Group faces in Latin America. One senior legal counsel, five legal counsel and three support staff, plus the managing counsel, handle everything from small administrative litigations to multimillion-dollar arbitrations currently pending in multiple jurisdictions. Each lawyer is responsible for managing a specific docket defined either by subject-matter (labour, regulatory, environmental, etc) or line of business (upstream, downstream, integrated gas, etc). Michele Lyra is the senior legal counsel accountable for directly managing a number of upstream and power trading matters in Brazil and supporting certain matters in other jurisdictions, as well as assisting the managing counsel in managing the team’s workload. André Cavalcanti, legal counsel, handles some disputes related to the trading business and a docket of commercial litigation related to the downstream business. Igor Parente, legal counsel, handles the entire non-Brazil docket and is very active in disputes in Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia and Costa Rica, among others. Andressa Baptista, legal counsel, manages the labour docket. Teresa Simonelli, legal counsel, is in charge of the environmental docket. Thalita Cordeiro, legal counsel, is currently in an assignment in London. Daniela Defenti and Leonardo Lopes are the paralegals responsible for finance-related activities. Camila Pinto handles audits, docket control and information management. Gabriel Costa, managing counsel, is a member of Shell Brazil’s legal coordination team and the Shell Group’s global litigation extended leadership team. He is responsible for managing the team and representing it before business leaders and external bodies.

What geographical area does the team cover and what challenges has it faced when covering multiple jurisdictions in the region?

The team covers the entire Latin America and Caribbean region. The main challenges to manage a multi-jurisdictional portfolio come mostly from working remotely with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has been involved with in the last two years?

Most of the significant matters the team works in are confidential, but some examples are a multi-million arbitration related to Shell Brazil’s trading activities, a nationwide dispute related to certain offshore activities in Uruguay and the litigation support in the divestment of the downstream business in Argentina.

How important have “soft skills” or personal attributes outside of technical legal skill been to the team’s success, and which ”soft skills” do you feel are most important for an in-house lawyer to possess?

Well- developed personal attributes and legal skills are equally important. Ability to focus on and identify the issues at hand, to relate to people in a productive way and not to get distracted by “how” others come across, but instead on what is at stake, are highly valuable soft skills.

How can in-house legal teams be an integral part of their firm’s business? How does the legal team demonstrate its value to the company?

Shell lawyers are as responsible for the company’s success as any other Shell Group employee. For this reason, Shell legal invests heavily in training its lawyers in business partnering programmes and encourage them to really take the time to understand the various business lines they support. Shell legal’s five foundational behaviours indicates how lawyers should interact with and add value to the business: (i) safety, ethics and compliance; (ii) business partnering; (iii) co-ownership; (iv) networked performance; and (v) “improving the work is the work”. Understanding the business, notably what the priorities are and what affects its bottom line is crucial. Going beyond the ordinary legal advice is also critical to really be perceived as a reliable business partner. Being creative, proposing alternative and viable solutions and taking the right measures of risk is paramount. The legal team demonstrates its value by taking accountability for the business and integrating with the commercial/operational areas as one single team working to advance the company’s interests.

Does the team use any “legal tech” products and do you find them a helpful management device?

Yes, Shell legal in general uses a number of tech tools to manage dockets, control budget, and manage information and so on. These are extremely helpful and are an essential part of the work we do.

Is diversity and inclusion as a matter of internal policy on the agenda at your company? How much influence do you, as an in-house legal team, have on the diversity and inclusion policies of your organisation?

Yes, the Shell Group has the D&I commitment high on its agenda and promotes it in several internal and external forums. Every Shell Group employee is encouraged to speak up and share her/his views in this space.

What political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most recently?

The Shell Group operates in a highly regulated industry, so changes in the political, economic and regulatory environments are part of the company’s day to day activities. Anticipating those changes and getting prepared to face them is everyone’s job. In this context, the litigation department is entrusted to find effective ways to prevent disputes and mitigate/eliminate litigation risks in such an environment.

How does your team handle the high profile arbitrations in which it is involved, particularly with the public sector?

The team invariably retains top law firms to represent the company in high profile disputes, but works hand-in-hand with outside counsel in all aspects of the case. The leading counsel in every dispute, notably the big ones, is always a member of the in-house team. We first work with the relevant business line involved to clarify what the desired business outcome is and what the potential impacts are.

Then outside counsel and experts, if appropriate, are retained. The strategy for the case is always devised with business needs at the forefront. Disputes with the public sector are no different. The team and the company always strive to build open, transparent and effective relationships with all public officers. Even when a dispute is inevitable, the team handles it as business as usual and makes all efforts to keep communication channels open with all stakeholders.