Team size: Over 20

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

External lawyers are key in our work. In the end law firms are part of the team and to perform at our best level we need to ensure that outside counsel is duly aligned with our values & way of work. For me the team needs to be willing to take calculated risks. Nothing worse than a lawyer who is not comfortable thinking outside the box and dealing with ambiguity. To do this, it is key to have a deep business knowledge that will allow you to come up with solutions to complex business matters. At ABI we have little bureaucracy, and we want everybody to question status quo and come up with new and fresh perspectives and solutions. This includes outside counsel, we don´t expect outside counsel to confirm what is stated in legislation (we could do that ourselves), we expect them to question their own knowledge and think hard on innovative solutions. On top of the above, for us it is key to engage law firms with high ethical standards. The “how” is as important or even more important than the “what”. We are constantly asking ourselves if our current outside counsels are the right firms for our company and our needs.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

In house counsel work is all based in trust. If your clients don´t trust you then you won´t be able to impact business and drive change. Reputation takes years to construct, and you might lose it within minutes. Once business feels that in house counsels are there to be a solution to business problems and are willing to roll up their sleeves and work closely with each area, the amount of influence that one can have on the business is important. Being the voice of reason and motivating the business to see the whole picture instead of parts of it allow you to move culture and drive change. This is a slow process that takes years. One can´t rush this process as it must be organic to feel natural o to be able to sustain it with in time.

What are some of the main legislative or regulatory changes that have impacted you?

Among the biggest legislative changes, we have faced this year is DATA protection legislation. We have been working on this matter for the whole past year. This involved a huge effort from our side since we had to map all processes affected by these new rules and then together with each business unit start implementing solutions and processes to comply. I have already been through this process when legislation was implemented in Colombia and I´m aware that you can´t leave everything to the last minute. On top it is important to conduct meaningful training for the business as the law department isn´t able to tackle every single issue. Each business owner must be responsible for his area and their own processes while the law department is there to absorb doubts and ensure that implementation is done properly. As many matters within our job this is a team effort, and we are prepared to face it.