Team size: Five 

Major legal advisers: Posse Herrera Ruiz 

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

I used to have a manager that said as joke: “If you want to kill a deal, call a lawyer.” This joke was enlightening to me. I hate this perception of lawyers. The kind of lawyer I always wanted to be was to be a facilitator and someone that can become a legal partner in all areas of the business. I believe that this approach and this mindset has been my greatest contribution to the team. This is the way all members of the team act, which enables us to gain the trust of our peers and be more involved in the decision-making process, learn from other departments and people in the company and in the long run will make us better professionals. 

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?  

I know technology will be a key element, but this is not something that worries me. We eventually will learn and adapt. I think that the greatest challenge for a general counsel in the future is to make sure that the team members develop and embrace a great set of softs kills. Technical knowledge is important, but soft skills are material. 

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, you are passionate about, and why?  

I joined the company five years ago. My background on corporate law and my experience handling complex matters and coordinating diverse and large external counsel teams (for nearly two years I was part of Reficar’s in-house legal team that supported King & Spalding on the arbitration that just received $1bn award) were key for being recruited by Toyota. 

I was full of expectations and eager to take on new challenges, but little did I know that due to serendipity, I was up to start doing the most rewarding and satisfactory experience of my life. I was given the opportunity to lead the social responsibility activities in the company and this has been lifechanging not just for me, but also for the legal team and everyone else in Toyota that has been involved in one way or the other. 

At first, this seems to be unrelated to our legal work, but on the contrary, I find it inspiring and helpful to broaden our horizon on the way we perform our legal work. We grew a sensitivity that makes us think that all we do at work has a deeper purpose than just selling cars; everything is socially, environmentally, and sustainable oriented. 

This aspect of our work has enabled us to interact with people and communities that otherwise we would not have been given the privilege to meet; like the Wayuu group in la Guajira where this year we expanded our ‘mobilityforall’ program, granting 200 bikes on a beautiful program led by World Bicycling Relief. The aim of this project was to ensure that the Wayuu children keep attending school on a bike.  

We also worked with environmentalists of the Fundacion Natura that manage the natural reserves of El Silencio in Antioquia and El Encenillo in Cundinamarca, where we have planted nearly 25,000 trees at our Bosque Toyota.