Focus on the key to Amplifon’s legal management in Latin America: language as a legal asset

Perhaps one of the most complex elements faced by lawyers as in-house counsel or legal managers is the contrast between legal language and the language of other areas of the company, and ultimately, with all other people.

The professional training process of the lawyer, and the constant relation with other professionals in the legal area, alter and condition our ways of communication, often making us dependent on legal language, to the point that even without looking for it, our daily form of communication is flooded with terms and concepts that make sense to us, but to those who do not have legal training, do not.

This language barrier often impacts the relationship with the other areas of the company, and generates a feeling of distance, disconnection, and even divergence in the interaction between the lawyer and the other critical areas of the operation.

In my career as an in-house professional, I have managed to develop a form of effective communication, which allows me not only to correctly share legal insights, but also to understand the needs of the different areas of the company, in their own language.

The in-house lawyer must be prepared to understand the needs of the different areas in their own field and turn this into an essential asset to develop quality management, in such a way that the legal manager is considered a close professional, who transmits confidence.

In Amplifon, the procedures of the legal administration, especially those related to risk management, compliance and contractual negotiation, gravitate in the construction of relationships of trust, empathy, closeness, and above all, mutual understanding. Dive in the organisational culture, immerse yourself in the processes, and understand them, in order to then connect them with the people, their personality and their professional genetics, implies giving up the legal language, and instead exploring the financial, operational, commercial, and marketing language, in order to diversify the forms of communication.

Language, effective communication, empathy and being able to deliver the message correctly – above and beyond how the message is transmitted – have been the key and the focus of my work as legal manager for Latin America at Amplifon and have allowed me to connect with the person behind the professionals, promoting effective, relevant and high value changes for the organisational culture.

As manager of the legal and compliance area for the company in Latin America, I have faced the challenge of maintaining daily interaction with the teams in charge of critical management of the company, constant communication with our headquarters in Italy, and cooperative work with actors from different countries, all based on a fluent and clear language, which allows people to understand, each one in their own field, the legal implications and risks of their professional activities.