About

Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche has recently expanded its Costa Rican operations with a new service centre and a legal team to oversee its manoeuvres. Roche operates in Central America and the Caribbean through three divisions: Pharma, Diagnostics and Diabetes and a Shared Services Centre (SSC). In 2014 Roche hired Ricardo Estrada as the first in-house lawyer for its Central America and Caribbean operations. As legal director and compliance officer Estrada quickly demonstrated his commitment, skills and deep understanding of the business and was invited by the general manager, to become a member of the Roche CAC’s management team. Estrada’s expertise are now at the highest level of the organisation. In addition to Estrada, the team comprises of two other outstanding lawyers: Melissa Ramos and Thais Ramirez, both legal and compliance business partners and contract specialist Ka Pou Cheong. The team is part of all key taskforces and integrated teams of the affiliate and serve as a bridge between the company and several external lawyers and law firms that provide advice to Roche in the all the countries that the CAC region covers. Estrada says, ‘the legal and compliance department is now a real business partner’. Adding, ‘the fact that we deal with over 23 countries, languages, different cultures and different legal systems makes our work more challenging every day. We work with courage, integrity and passion towards the achievement of the organisational goals and the strengthening of the rule of law from our department’.