What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

An airport project had serious contractual and commercial problems with the client, and I had to travel in 2020 – in the middle of a global pandemic, where international airports were closed – to prevent the company from losing a project and avoid causing a diplomatic problem between the countries.

I travelled in the middle of a global health crisis, renting a charter, and stayed for three months in that country with serious restrictions, handling meetings with important political figures and technical teams until we were able to resolve the situation. Today, there is a wonderful friendship between the company and the client, with more projects assigned to the company and satisfactory project delivery.

This situation was legally complex and also extreme at a commercial, diplomatic, and technical level. Creating an effective strategy to manage this crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted led me to receive promotions and recognitions within the company and at the headquarters in China.

In which ways have you attempted to bring the legal department closer to your business colleagues?

I started as the only senior corporate counsel, and the only attorney at the headquarters of the Americas Division based in Panama, overseeing the entire region of America. Realising that the legal and commercial department only had an administrative role, I created a structure to for the department to carry out other functions in compliance, risk, negotiation, relationship management and performance of due diligence. After this, I hired lawyers in each branch of the company at the regional level, hired legal assistants in my local offices and created an organisational chart for my department.

Today, I have developed alongside my colleagues through experience, delegating functions and involving colleagues in regional tasks with solid systems and functional legal and corporate structure.