About

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

The legal department is structured with a general counsel, a group of specialised lawyers, and three legal assistants.

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

The team has been involved in the following transactions:

VAD studies approval and new tariff specifications;

INDE arbitration;

SAT case/tax claim;

Differentiated management;

Several convictions against people who have committed crimes against the company;

Signing of electricity supply contracts for public lighting with 105 municipalities.

What recent political, economic or regulatory changes in Central America have impacted your company and the team the most?

In June 2019, resolutions concerning the approval of new distribution added value (VAD) were published, as well as the corresponding tariff specifications. In September 2019, a new board of directors of the National Electric Energy Commission was appointed. In addition, the general elections were recently, so the new government will take power in January 2020.

What ‘legal tech’ products does the team utilise? What is useful about the products and could they be improved?

There are different products that are used as technological tools to improve the services provided by the company’s in-house lawyers. A clear example is a service from a local company that consists of a compilation of laws and other legal documents that are published in the official gazette, which are available in different formats and are daily updated. The Energuate legal team is subscribed to this service, which makes it easier to find information on the latest legal and regulatory changes that can be related in different ways to the matter of electrical energy distribution and the operations associated with it.

On the other hand, there are tools that have not been created specifically for use by lawyers, but which can be very well used by them. Such is the case of software for the management of different documents, as well as online storage sources or data rooms that make it possible for other people with specific permits to access them remotely. However, a possible improvement to this kind of products would be the existence of versions for the specific handling of legal documents, in which they can be organised by type of process, priority or term, for a more adequate management.

How does the team ensure a quick turnaround time when working on activities?

In-house lawyers respond to different pre-established guidelines on their faculties and ways of dealing with specific situations within the company. However, there are special issues that merit a quick response from the legal team, so that according to the level of urgency they can become a priority.

There is no doubt that communication is of vital importance for any kind of team so that the activities are carried out in a better way. At present, technology also plays a very important role when it comes to ensuring a short response time to urgent attention issues. Electronic communications are sometimes very useful for lawyers to find out and manage a certain matter with due anticipation and diligence.

What are the challenges of operating Guatemala’s largest power distribution company?

The challenges are many and very important, due to the nature of the company’s activities and the level of commitment involved in providing a service as essential as the distribution of electricity in most departments of the country. Among these can be mentioned issues such as the wide territorial area authorised for energy distribution, which implies that the company must take the service to remote places and also observe a series of legal requirements for the installation of networks.

From the perspective of legal compliance, it is important to mention the high level of responsibility that implies respecting standards related to energy distribution, which include requirements related to the quality of service and established tariff schedules; hence, the commercial operation of the company is in permanent audit by the corresponding entity.

Social conflict present in a large part of the national territory is a relevant issue, since there are people and organised groups opposing the company’s presence in different locations, which also steal electrical energy by manipulating the facilities and obtaining an illicit use. Thus, the role of the legal team is very important, not only to advise and promote compliance with the applicable regulations, but to defend the legitimate interests of the company against the various arbitrary and illegal actions committed against it.

Focus on… ESSENTIAL SERVICES

The role of the in-house lawyer in an essential services company When it comes to a company that provides a basic service in most of a country, the importance of an appropriate legal team acquires a special dimension. The internal lawyer must possess high organisational capacity and multitasking skills, as well as be able to coordinate actions with external attorneys and consultants in different cases and projects. The needs of a company of such nature can be very specific and present in large volumes, and the legal issues that arise may imply results that directly affect its business operations; therefore, the due diligence of the matters in charge of a legal team are necessary, whose success depends primarily on the management of the in-house lawyer.