About

‘The role of in-house counsel is not only legal management; it implies the management of administrative and budgeting matters, participation in the company’s strategic planning and leadership of human resources’, opines Lina María Cortes, legal director at Fresnius Medical Care. ‘Managing to satisfy all these necessities, conciliating the interests of the team with the requirements of the company and adapting oneself to the changes in the internal and external environment has been the greatest challenge I’ve faced’, she says, noting that, ‘as a lawyer I’ve never had training in the non-legal matters that are today a fundamental aspect of my role’. As head of legal she is part of the company’s executive committee, which ‘permits involvement and a direct, first-hand understanding of the company’s critical matters’, and she draws satisfaction from the knowledge that the contribution of the legal team is ‘fundamental to the company’s operation’. During her tenure she has overhauled the working methodology of the department, and, among other reforms, reorganised the internal management of contracts and electronic archiving processes, achieving notable efficiencies. Externally she and her team played a crucial role in obtaining the status of a ‘permanent special free trade zone’ for subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care Servicio Renal, a critical step in the company’s strategic development in Colombia. Insiders comment on her ‘capacity of delegating legal work amongst the company’s in-house lawyers and outside counsel very efficiently’, something ‘she manages better than most’.