How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic affected every business and business unit, and internal legal departments were no exception. We have had a significant role in digesting and adapting to the sudden regulatory and labour changes that were required from our industry. We had to rapidly create protocols, interact with authorities and ensure that our operations complied, sometimes with regulations being developed in real-time, while keeping healthy conditions for our workers.

We have also had a crucial role in communicating with health authorities and making them acknowledge specifics of our industry to consider them when issuing regulations.

Our work has changed with the pandemic and continues to change. A key example of this is the litigation and governance surveillance of mining operations. Courts and authorities in Colombia had a slow start but eventually introduced the use of online and other tech tools. Some of these changes are here to stay and keep evolving; in-house teams must be prepared to provide the best legal advice to management under the new conditions.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

Technology will enormously impact transforming and improving the work of in-house legal teams.

In Colombia, the introduction of legal tech has been slow; therefore, I think there is much room for improvement. Tools for managing litigation, standardising sales or purchase operations or following up on regulatory matters will help us be more efficient and reliable. Intelligent databases and more detailed search engines will always be helpful in saving time when researching, a significantly time-consuming task. Finally, having tools that allow for managing the work by outside counsel and other administrative matters will probably become the norm for any in-house team.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

In-house lawyers must save no effort in understanding and adapting to the needs of business partners. A strong relationship results when our internal clients feel that our work adds value and helps them achieve business goals while at the same time identifying and managing legal risks.

The way to accomplish this includes acquiring in-depth learning of the specifics of each business unit. In the case of a mining company, this consists of the facilities, territory and international markets. Getting our coal out of the ground and delivered to international clients involves an extensive and complex chain. We must ensure that the many layers involved and the corresponding legal aspects are considered. Another important factor is working efficiently and complying with planning and time constraints – a big challenge where tech tools will have a more significant role.