First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently? 

The team recently counselled on transforming the business scope of one of the group’s companies to accommodate new regulatory trends and develop a new Line of Business (LOB) which will positively impact and expand its day-to-day operations.  

Additionally, the team successfully provided support on the procurement and purchase process of a legal tech software that is helping oversee the legal operations and has enabled us to take decisions based on where resources are being allocated and time is being consumed.  

Another project the team has been involved with is updating the company’s whole legal
documentation to reflect recent changes in its corporate structure. In addition to
daily legal ops, the team has also worked on new projects and business developments
beneficial to the companies comprised within Grupo Vimenca.  

How do you stay up to date with changes in laws and regulations relevant to your organisation’s industry?   

Laws and regulations are an essential part of an In-house lawyer set of tools as they guide the scope and precision on which legal counselling must be based upon. Therefore, to stay up to date on changes in laws and regulations relevant to my organisation’s industry, the team and I monitor the websites of the financial regulators (Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, Superintendency of Banks), the Dominican Tax Authority as well the decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court. 

We also monitor international and local newspapers and specialised law reviews to check on new legal trends that might directly or indirectly impact the organisation’s industry.  

Finally, one essential tool to stay up to date about laws, regulations and overall legal trends is LinkedIn. In my view, it is essential to check it extensively at least twice a day to be and stay informed. LinkedIn is no longer an achievements board type of social media but an extremely useful and necessary tool for general counsel. 

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why? 

A cause I care about is regulation, specifically how it can and should be used to develop, promote, and implement better policies in the financial industry as well as the real economy. In my view, regulation can be used to model an economic agent’s behaviour and promote better market efficiency without an excessive regulatory load or a sanctions-based approach.  

Regulation is aimed at solving market failures such as: information asymmetry, negative externalities, and monopolies, to name a few, but it could also be used to promote the emergence of new business and entrepreneurs, safer roads, cleaner cities, and even healthier markets.  

The classic take on regulation implies a reactive approach where most regulators around the world often react to market initiatives and try to follow along imposing sanctions where they detect risks or having no idea what to regulate or where to begin with.  

Constant and open communication with economic agents is essential to understand current market trends and realities and to fine tune regulation so that it continues to promote market efficiency and model an agent’s conduct beneficial to society because it makes economic sense and not because they might get sanctioned.