About

Since being featured in the GC Powerlist: Chile 2017, Andrea Convalia has continued impressing peers in Chile’s legal industry and her colleagues at the multinational personal care company, L’Oréal. In 2017 the company gave Convalia the role of ethics correspondent in addition to her general counsel position, a reflection of the trust they have in her integrity and management capabilities. Despite the constraints and pressures of taking on additional responsibilities, Convalia’s professionalism ensures that her contribution to the company is not hindered. 2018 saw Convalia become part of the LWOW (LawWithoutWalls) Community, a part-virtual experiential learning programme designed to further develop the skills of aspiring lawyers. ‘It really allowed me to be at the very same time “coach” and “coachee”, learn a lot, and to realise that there is a tribe out there which is trying to build a better world and legal community one step at a time’, she remarks. Regarding the legal function at L’Oréal Chile, Convalia implemented several automated processes and kept an open door policy to ensure a best-in-class legal service is delivered to the company: ‘I have managed to shake off the feeling that interactions with the legal team could kill a project or significantly act as a drag for it, ultimately becoming a partner in the entire process. Under my watch, I have been able to take down this myth and turn the in-house counsel into a part of the team allowing space for a smooth exchange of know-how mitigating risks that ultimately result in more efficient business decisions’. Before joining L’Oréal in 2014, Convalia was a senior in-house counsel at Cencosud for five years, with responsibilities in banking, insurance and regulated markets, including the leadership of the corporate law team. Prior to her time at Cencosud, her first ever in-house role, Convalia took time away from practicing law to concentrate on being a stay-at-home mum and assess her professional aspirations. Realising her love of practicing law at the time, she can now reflect on what she enjoys about working in-house: ‘Being an in-house counsel gives the platform to both combine the fast-paced business world and what I’m really passionate about, which is the law. From my standpoint, being able to engage management and take part in the company’s core business, view how the company relates to consumers and the market as a whole as a result of decisions made based on my own counsel is what ultimately allows me to feel that I made the right choice’.