Has remote working inspired any innovation in terms of the way you or your teamwork? Are there any standout products or technology you use now that you did not before?
Yes, for sure. Now we use different cloud tools to track our activities and relevant processes daily. We do not work from home weekly to encourage personal interaction. We are fully aware that working from home is feasible, nevertheless we have also internalised how important it is to have personal contact to create meaningful relationships within the team. We regularly have team meetings which are also a brainstorming session to handle and propose more creative solutions to the topics at hand. When we do work from home, we use Microsoft Teams to have daily meetings and interaction and we use ‘Notion’ to track our activities and ‘to-do lists.’
What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?
There are three main topics to highlight; due to proactive interaction with public and private stakeholders we managed to transmit and educate the governmental authorities to stop an industry harmful major infrastructure development with a yearly net impact of $20m, this project has now been declared as not relevant by the government. We also conducted detailed due diligence and managed to stop an acquisition project that had many FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) red flags, which if executed could have caused a major impact on the company. Additionally, this year we started a major merging process among the FME legal entities that operates in Ecuador, 13 entities in total with a $100M in revenue.
In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?
I see in-house legal as a more dynamic and business focused function than the typical outside counsel. With this approach, the in-house lawyer is also a gatekeeper and provider of creative ethical solutions across the markets the companies work in. Also, from a regional or international point of view, I see in-house counsel as part of a diverse multicultural team that can work together to find better solutions from each country’s experience. Also, acting as in-house counsel in a big corporation is one of the few opportunities that lawyers can transform their careers from local to international and move between jurisdictions.
