Team size: 35

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

While working at Citibanamex as general counsel for Citibanamex Casa de Bolsa (Citiis broker dealer in Mexico), I implemented, together with my team, a procurement committee. Instead of having all of the areas involved in the engagement of third parties working in silos, we implemented a committee comprised by the risks, audit, operations, IT, compliance and legal teams, where the area requesting a service would make a small presentation of the service and answer a questionnaire designed by legal. The purpose of the committee was to review the services from a commercial, legal, regulatory and operational perspective. With the approval from the committee, my team would work on the relevant agreement considering any comments made by the different teams. In addition, we would advise on and file any necessary approval requests with the Mexican Securities and Banking Commission (CNBV), if needed. The establishment of the committee resulted in a significant reduction of time for the engagement of services required by the company.

What are some of the main trends impacting the industry sector you work in in Mexico?

Digitalisation of financial services and online sales are the main focus of growth in our industry. Providing digital financial services will be one of the fastest developing businesses in Mexico where banks, smaller financial services providers with digital platforms and other players will have a very hard and exciting competition with only a few will being able to continue over time as the industry presents several challenges.

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

Sustainability practices and ESG initiatives in general are now embedded in our day-to-day and a fundamental part of our strategy going forward. For any general counsel, it is key to understand and have a legal team competent in all the areas of ESG in order to be able to provide legal advice regarding these matters and implement any such initiative as quickly as possible.

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, you are passionate about, and why?

I have been working in the legal sector for over 20 years focused on capital markets, finance, mergers and acquisitions and have provided local and foreign clients with regulatory advice regarding financial services.

When I started my career, very early on I noticed that although there were woman working in lower level positions, there were no women partners at the law firm I used to work and in most of the transactions in which I worked there were pretty much no woman and obviously in very few cases there were women that were decision makers. At that time, I was really looking forward to finding a woman I look up or reach out for some advice.

Once I started to gain some experience, I noticed how important it was for the women at the firm to stick together, share experiences and help and support each other. Once I became the most senior woman lawyer at the firm, I begun to try to create more bonding among women and, taking advantage of my position at the firm as a senior lawyer, I would ask the firm to sponsor lunches or events specially designed for woman. Eventually, younger women lawyers would start to feel more comfortable to speak up about situations in which we (women) would feel uncomfortable, overlooked or simply discriminated.

Couple of years after that, I was privileged to work together with other women lawyers in creating AbogadasMx in 2015. AbogadasMx is a non-profit organization, which purpose is to provide tools and resources for woman to advance their careers within our profession. AbogadasMX has over 2,400 members, a mentoring program and many initiatives and programs designed to help women lawyers.

Founding AbogadasMx together with other amazing women and being part for many years of its board of directors is the thing I am most proud of in my professional career and the highest privilege I have ever had. For me, being part of AbogadasMx, and be able to see how we have reached to so many women is incredible