Team size: Five 

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?   

 During times of crisis, whether of internal or external origin, the legal department becomes the enclave where the joint work of the Presidency, Public Relations and Operations departments is added, with the legal department being the coordinator among all, for the development of strategies, especially in those crises that affect the corporate image, but we also become support for other departments by making recommendations on issues that may or may not be within the legal, when the crisis arises from external forces such as the Covid-19. 

As a legal department, our vision and mission is to ensure that the company successfully concludes transactions and commercial operations that allow the growth of the company, but at the same time we strengthen the protection of the company’s resources by protecting it legally in each of these transactions, trying as much as possible to avoid losing good business opportunities.  

What are the main cases or transactions you have been involved in recently?   

   We are currently working on two main branches that we are focusing on:  

1. Business: for the growth of the company, we have closed two real estate acquisitions (acquisition of a Beach Club and several lands located in the vicinity of the project), both worth several million dollars and we are in the process of acquiring a third property, which is still in the negotiation phase. 
2. Litigation: we are currently assisting members of our club, who acquired a real estate property, which currently due to a long-term scam are being threatened their property rights, for which we have brought together several offices that specialise in civil, criminal and real estate litigation, as we are concerned about the stability of foreign investment in the country, so we have focused on finding a satisfactory legal solution, to demonstrate that the laws in our country are to be complied with and investors are safe.

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company? 

 With the creation of the Public Relations department, which was created through the legal department and has been supervised by it in recent years, we have been able to motivate the company to create a bond with the neediest communities in the area where the company operates. But it is not limited only to financial support, but the company seeks to support in various areas such as the environment (where beach cleaning is performed and the employee is motivated to a more ecological awareness, the replacement of gasoline golf carts by electric golf carts, among others), Cultural  (support of concerts, festivals and festivals, emphasising that the recipients of the aid have the same objectives and views of sustainability as our company), Sports (sponsorship of sporting events of all kinds) and different categories that enhance Puerto Plata as a sustainable tourist destination, motivating the members of our vacation club to contribute personally and provide the possible aid to those most in need.  

It is in the legal department of the company that requests for assistance and sponsorship are received and processed with the presidency and once approved, they are executed through the operations and public relations department. One of the characteristics we look for is that the same principles and moral values that govern the company are respected in the recipients of aid. 

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment?  

 As a Legal Department and living in a country and more specifically in a tourist city, where we work for 100% foreign capital in a company in the hotel sector, diversity and inclusion are part of the day to day. The first thing is not to limit the hiring of personnel to only graduates, we have had interns from various careers that have supported us at one time or another since the formation of the department. Likewise, we work with external law firms not only from the Dominican Republic, but also with offices in Mexico, the United States, Panama, British Virgin Islands, Austria and Liechtenstein.  

In addition, we give employees from other areas who have completed their law degree the opportunity to enter the legal department, thus promoting growth within the same company.  

Above all we seek that existing employees can work in an environment of collaboration and respect regardless of nationality, sexual orientation or race of the person who needs our support or service; pro bono services are offered to employees of the company who need legal advice and we open the door for them to feel that they can go to the legal department and under the authorisation of the presidency so that the latter understands that such advice does not imply in any way a decrease in the performance of the schedule for the services provided to the company itself.