Country: Costa Rica

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved the way your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

My position was new in Accenture Costa Rica, and I brought all my previous experience and management skills from the multinational companies I have worked before such as Unilever, British American Tobacco and Walmart. I applied all in-house legal best practices such as acquiring deeply knowledge the business, serve as a legal business partner, articulating with all internal clients for better conclusions and decision making, all Project Management (PMI) skills and techniques, and all my good relations with external counsel were applied to this new position, and it has served the company very well.

What are some of the key developments (legal, geopolitical or otherwise) that have affected your business over the last year?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw a huge growth in IT companies. With the end of the pandemic, the market has been stabilising, and last year, IT companies did not grow at the same rhythm as during the pandemic. Nevertheless, we have already seen a lot of new technological advances such as generative AI and other new technologies, that are giving a big push to IT companies once again.

How do you think the in-house legal role will evolve in the coming years?

I think technology will evolve and change not only the In-House legal role, but the role of all managers and the way company’s ways if working in general. Specially, for In-House Lawyers, Automation, Generative A.I., Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality will be critical, and in-house lawyers will have to be able to know these new technologies, to understand these new technologies, to administrate them and to know how to operate them, to become more effective in their day-to-day work.

Do you use any legal technology products and, if so, what areas of your work do you find it most useful for?

Been Accenture an Information Technology (IT) Company we use a lot of technological tools transversally, through out the Company. Concerning Legal Tech, we find very useful the application of Legal Tech in Contract Drafting and tools for reviewing / approving contracts.