Team size: 17

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

It is essential for the general counsel of a company to have an adequate knowledge of the business, and the different risks involved in the business activity. The general counsel within the crisis and instability management is an extremely key and relevant actor to be able to adequately address these moments in an organisation.

Due to the business reality in which I work, it is quite frequent to be in processes that imply facing instability or crisis. In this sense, it is important when these situations occur to be able to adequately evaluate the case and to be able to distinguish the different aspects that a crisis implies in the organisation. In these instances, it is important to move from analysis to action, so it is necessary to establish priority and urgent actions at the crisis committee level, define the appropriate work team, choosing key and technical personnel depending on the type of crisis in question. In cases of crisis, there are usually problems that arise during the occurrence, so it is necessary to be flexible, distinguish between the different edges that a crisis can generate, evaluating and establishing action plans and tactics.

The role of the general counsel is also to be able to coordinate and influence with the different departments and external agents, to ensure that the defined actions take place and finally manage the situation, mitigating the risks associated with the business.

In my role as general counsel, I must generate and ensure the management of this situation, to provide the company with the best support in these situations. In this line, the management of the general counsel must always be oriented in line with the strategy of the organisation, so the knowledge of the business by the legal team is essential, contributing to its role as a strategic partner in the management of this situation.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?

Legal departments are not out of the technological development that is present in the industries today, in this regard, there are several advances in technology, both in terms of systems and workflows that involve the participation of the legal function, software that allow better collection and safeguarding of information and also the assistance of artificial intelligence in the function of the legal department.

Now, for my part, I am convinced that these developments do not replace the work of lawyers within the company, but rather complement it, to provide a better service to clients within the industry. Also, always in the lawyer’s approach, knowledge of the business, ethics and business compliance must prevail, which in some way is not obtained with technological development alone.

In my opinion, all systems that allow time optimisation will be the ones that will have the greatest impact on legal departments. The systematisation and management process of contractual documents in large organsations will have a significant impact on the management of legal departments.

In your opinion, what are the main trends that are salient in your country currently (these can be legal, political, economy or business-based)?

Our current environment in Chile represents several challenges for companies and for legal departments in the country. Chile in recent years has had a lot of movement at a socio-political level, considering the social outbreak, the constitutional processes, and the pandemic, which certainly has generated in our society a series of aspects that today represent a challenge for Chile. Currently, the major issues considered by the population and business in Chile are economic activity and the feeling of insecurity in our population. These aspects, among other things, have generated the development in the last time of new laws and projects of future laws that will imply important adjustments in our industry. This is a challenge and a very important role for the general counsel within the organisation, being responsible for being in constant evaluation of these potential changes.