Team size: 72

LATAM countries your role covers: I have been in my current role since February this year. Before that, for 10 years I was the general counsel of Unilever in Latin America, based most of the time in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo. In this role, all the countries from Mexico to Argentina were in scope. The current role leading our Shared Services (which we branded as Powerhouses), is global.

What are the most significant cases and transactions in the LATAM region that you or your legal team have recently been involved in?

The team is part of all Unilever legal matters in Latam — a broad spectrum of subjects ranging from general commercial advice and contracts to litigation, passing by diverse areas like privacy, competition law, IP, labor law, compliance and corporate. In the last year, a big focus was internal reorganisation, to alignment of legal structure to the company restructuring by business groups. The legal cases and transactions were many and very diversified, from the traditional areas like labour litigation, M&A and crisis management, to monitoring emerging regulations in areas like greenwashing.

How do you adapt your legal counselling to align with the diverse business practices and customs of various LATAM countries?

In my role, my starting point was always my company’s guidelines and policies, to ensure consistency, followed by a local adaptation to the different realities of the countries, taking into consideration local legal framework, sensitivities, special needs, risk profiles and opportunities. All this is accompanied by lots of communication with key stakeholders to make sure there is a permanent dialogue with the business.

What are your organisations plans in the LATAM region over the next 12 months and how will your legal expertise help to achieve these plans?

The company now operates with business groups and business unities, with a clear focus on gaining proximity to the markets where we operate. Legal can contribute to this agenda when it comes to gaining agility, reducing bureaucracy, and enabling the business objectives to be achieved.