About

Chief legal counsel for Latin America at global market analysis behemoth, The Nielsen Company, Denise Guillén’s responsibilities cover 18 countries. Since her arrival at the company three years ago, she has implemented the company’s internal global policies across the region and radically overhauled the use of external counsel, establishing preferred suppliers, bringing the majority of work in house and as a result, substantially reducing costs. In the process she has converted the legal function into a growing department on a par with other business units and with its own budget. In addition to her role as counsel, Guillén is also regional ombudsman with responsibility for compliance, working closely with the human resources, finance, client service, and privacy departments. Given the sector in which the company works, confidentiality matters are a major consideration and insiders note that she is ‘singularly excellent in terms of privacy matters and associated risk’. She is also reputed for her knowledge of tax issues. With considerable experience in private practice (notably at full-service firm, Basham, Ringe y Correa), she also has strong views on external legal service provision and the need for law firms to truly ally with the in-house team, demonstrating pro-activeness and orienting its advice to both the institutional and business requirements of the company. ‘Both internal and external lawyers are necessary to companies but completely disposable if they do not have the “business acumen” or “industry knowledge” the company requires’, she comments. ‘Lawyers should create value for their clients on a day-to-day basis and know the commercial environment in which each client or business unit is active, so as to be up-to-speed with the technical peculiarities and requirements of each one’.