Team size: 11

Major legal advisers: Baker & McKenzie

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 launched a legal chat bot which solves recurring legal queries regarding advertising reviews, registration of legal representatives, collection processes, hiring of personnel, review of promotions for consumers, advice on consumer claims, among many other topics. The legal chat bot provides free legal advice at all hours. In addition to providing additional legal services to our internal stakeholders, it dramatically freed up time for internal counsel to focus on more strategic projects and enhance their work-life balance.

What are some of the main trends impacting the industry sector you work in in Colombia?

The food industry in Colombia is subject to various legal trends that influence its operations and regulatory environment. The government has implemented regulations to ensure that food products meet certain health and safety requirements. This includes regulations on labelling, packaging, and storage, as well as guidelines for the production and distribution of food products. Compliance with these standards is crucial for companies in the food industry to maintain consumer trust and meet regulatory obligations. Even though I have seen a much faster development of food waste reduction regulation in other markets, Colombia is starting to catch up and is making efforts to reduce food waste throughout the supply chain, from production to consumption. Government initiatives, such as awareness campaigns and regulations promoting food donation and waste reduction strategies, aim to address this issue.

Finally, Colombia has being a regional pioneer in consumer protection laws and regulations in the food industry. These regulations cover areas such as product liability, advertising and marketing practices, consumer rights, and complaint handling procedures. Compliance with consumer protection laws is crucial for companies to avoid legal disputes, maintain consumer trust, and protect their brand reputation.

What challenges have you encountered in implementing effective risk management practices, and how have you overcome them?

The main challenge we face in Colombia is the avalanche of new and drastic changes to legislation that the government is constantly proposing in the Congress and media. Analysing the impact the government’s constant launch of drastic changes to the incumbent laws has on our company is extremely challenging.

We have coped with all the proposed reforms by creating a heat map matrix in which we analyse likelihood and impact for MDLZ and depending on the final result, we assign a colour for each risk and present on a monthly basis to the leadership team of the company the status of the “red” risks and the actions that MDLZ would have to take in order to comply with the proposed regulations.

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

Legal departments will embrace AI-powered tools and automation to streamline legal processes, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. It will assist with contract analysis, due diligence, legal research, and document review, among other tasks, allowing inhouse counsels to focus on higher-level strategic and advisory work.