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?  
 
My team used to be divided into two sub-teams – Spanish-speaking countries, and Brazil, and for the last year I have focused on integrating these two smaller teams into a single Latam team. This has allowed us to use our resources more efficiently, having one person in charge of regional requests instead of two and assigning people to matters that require more support instead of limiting our staff per subregion. As a result of this, my team members expanded their scope and knowledge beyond their sub-region.  
 
What are some of the main trends impacting the industry sector you work in in Mexico?  
 
Platform work has become one of the most pressing matters for regulators and legislators around the world. Every government within the Latin American region is trying to analyse and better define what the legal relationship between platforms and platform workers should be. Some governments are inclined to recognise it as traditional employment, while others see the relationship between workers and platforms as commercial. Nonetheless, there is an agreement that there should be a social framework established to provide a profit floor for independent contractors. This tendency to regulate work on platforms is fundamental to Uber’s business model.  
 
Without question, increased regulation on platform work would have a monumental impact on the gig economy and would lead to significant damage. Every day, we need to review the numerous bills presented in congresses throughout the region attempting to regulate gig work. These bills fall on a spectrum that starts with recognising an employment relationship and ends with independent contractor status without benefits.   
 
As part of my team’s day-to-day work, we review these bills, analyse the potential impact on our business and the lives of gig workers, and create innovative solutions that can achieve the best of both worlds. We aim to recognise their status as independent contractors while also providing a floor of social benefits as with traditional employment models. We also see this trend, of trying to legally define platform work as I have discussed, get taken to court. As a result, we are frequently involved in the defence of our business model in court, demonstrating that platform workers have the freedom to select when, where, and for how long they wish to offer their services through the app.  
 
What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, you are passionate about, and why?  
 
At Uber, we are reinventing the way people work and that is exciting. My role as a lawyer at Uber is one of those rare fast-paced legal roles where the regulations are outdated and no longer applicable to our business model. We must be comfortable with uncertainty and be able to see the forest for the trees. We must understand that any advice we give today, when there is no regulation, may guide how our entire industry will be regulated in the future.  
 
On the one hand, platform workers have no obligation to work and, therefore, are free to use the application whenever they want and for as long as they want. However, we must keep in mind that even if they are not required to work, in some cases they do depend on the application as their primary income.  
 
Although this is not enough to create a traditional employment bond, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard as the decisions we make can have significant impact on the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people. I am incredibly passionate about the employment work we do at Uber, and there is no other work I would rather be doing.