Team size: Seven
Major legal advisers: Abogados Pineda y Asociados, Arrieta Mantilla & Asociados, CEO Abogados, Pardo y Asociados.

In the 15 years that I have been leading Airplan’s legal department, I have built a team that understands and accepts that our work as in-house lawyers goes far beyond generating concepts based on rules and regulations. The version of the in-house lawyer that we have built at Airplan corresponds to a person who knows the business in depth, masters the relevant business data, empathises with the needs of the client, and understands very well the interests, wishes and concerns of every stakeholder. Airplan’s lawyer is a person of trust, not fear or reverence.

During my 15 years at Airplan, I have consolidated a team with a high degree of commitment and a high level of closeness to the entire organisation. We have become a team that generates safe and creative possibilities, that goes beyond, that gets involved, that questions, that validates and that looks for ways forward. We have achieved this by creating deep relationships, taking an interest in studying and learning about advances in legal management and getting closer to the business in all its dimensions.

Some time ago I conducted an exercise with one of the lawyers in the team who, after many years in the company, began to show me that she was unfamiliar with many of its processes. I began to invite her to two meetings a week to discuss an unfamiliar and even uncomfortable or uninteresting subject. It was, without a doubt, a master’s degree in the company at no cost.

In this way, understanding and being passionate about the services we provide at airports, we have built processes that make the legal function more efficient, we have become leaders that allow and promote the consolidation of an organisational culture based on principles. We protect the business from today but at the same time we try to guarantee its consolidation and continuity over time. We value and promote interdisciplinary work, creating harmony and resonance in labour relations, we get involved in projects from their initial stage, we are practical and use creativity without risking the security of the company’s transactions, we take care of the reputation and good name of the company. We notify risks in a timely manner and generate plans for their administration and mitigation, working with experts who accompany us in their management.

As a team we do not just feel like an isolated support or consultation function, but an integral and fundamental part of the company. We have consolidated a team of top-level external advisors and we turn to them, when necessary, so as not to generate unnecessary risks due to lack of knowledge, because it is essential to understand that we are not experts in everything.

Finally, I would say that in order to achieve a committed team made up of excellent people at all levels, the starting point has always been to seek the integral wellbeing of each person: promoting health, rest, quality relationships as a leader, and attending to the problems of each team member, because we value the personal dimension as a fundamental basis for excellent performance.