Team size: seven

What are the most significant cases or transactions you and your team have been involved in?

In Colombia because of an unfair court decision, it was ordered that the Uber application, as it worked at the time in the country, would no longer be available. In addition to establishing a litigious strategy that ended up reversing this absurd decision, we had to work in record time to design and implement a new business model, different from the previous one, that would allow the app to be available again in the country. Just three weeks later, the app was available again for users using a vehicle rental model with drivers, facilitated by the technological services of Uber.

This business model turned out to be so strategic that it was replicated in other countries in the region where the traditional model represented too many risks.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

As in-house lawyers, we must continue to challenge ourselves, day by day, to achieve sufficient business knowledge, manage business metrics and share their goals to become the “business partner” that they need, and to be seen as trusted advisors.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

The pandemic created a new pressure on the provision of legal services including working from home and an increased workload, so in these scenarios’ automation is increasingly necessary. There is a need for sustainable tools that allow you to be more efficient without investing so much time, and to create procedures and toolkits that can be implemented even by non-technical legal personnel.

In the future, internal legal departments will be made up of non-lawyers who contribute, for example, to risk management.