What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

About a year ago I started working as General Counsel of MAE, where our exclusive focus has been the development of green hydrogen and ammonia project: one of the most advanced in Chile and Latin America. The company is contemplating an investment of US$2.5bn for constructing a modern plant that will deliver around 580,000 tons/year of green ammonia in two stages at full production.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

At MAE we work with many external lawyers (7 different law firms). When choosing our external lawyers, we consider deeply how align they are with our company’s values. It is essential for us to collaborate with advisors who share our values, especially integrity, sustainability, and a spirit of strict compliance with regulations.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

In today’s world, legal and regulatory aspects are increasingly intertwined with the performance of different areas of a company. Palpable examples (among others) are anti-corruption and antitrust regulations, which require all areas of a company to take measures to prevent non-compliance. In this context, it is beneficial for a company to have an in-house lawyer, so that, in parallel to the exercise of its own functions, it can watch over the day-to-day work of compliance with the various legal and regulatory obligations that affect the company. In this way, the presence of an in-house lawyer can generate a change in the way of facing the usual tasks through the application of preventive measures in accordance with the legal system.