Can you tell us about your journey to becoming an in-house counsel? What inspired you to pursue a career in this field?

I have always been passionate about in-house counseling. I worked for almost seven years in transactional law and I enjoyed it a lot; but while working at the firm, I had the privilege to work with a lot of companies in their day-to-day matters and operations, for example, with Disney, Bardahl, El Palacio de Hierro, among others. And that is when my interest for in-house counseling started growing. I wanted the opportunity to have a real impact on companies’ bottom line and core business, be part of decision-making and drive companies’ success. I wanted to work closely with business leaders and the opportunity to know about other industries and specialise in one.

In your role as an in-house counsel, what are the main responsibilities and tasks you handle on a day-to-day basis?

My main responsibilities and tasks are the following: (i) review, draft, and drive consultation on agreements; (ii) risk analysis advice; (iii) work with external legal counsel; (iv) work on and maintain legal relationships internally and externally; (v) Support intercompany transactions; (vii) work on regulatory and legal requests from cross-functional teams; (viii) analyse and provide advice regarding legal landscapes.

What are some of the key challenges you have faced as a rising star in-house counsel, and how have you overcome them?

(i) Learn to work-life balance – After working for seven years in transactional law, I was positive that work came first, second and last, when I reached in-house counseling, I learned there is more to that. The only way I have been able to find a balance is staying organised and keeping track of my work to avoid feeling overwhelmed, as well as taking care of myself, both physically and mentally, which has helped been motivated and productive; (ii) Efficiently managing workload – What has helped me the most is setting clear priorities, focusing on the most important tasks and being organised. For example, when the outsourcing regulation was modified in Mexico, I was already working at Google, and there were so many things that had to be done, and the only way I could manage the whole workload, besides the super valuable help from may manager, was being organised and setting the eyes on the price; (iii) Build relationships with other stakeholders and add value to the company – That is where you learn how to drive the business and legal acumen. Once of my strongest traits are my people skills and, without a doubt, these have been the ones that help me with relevant stakeholder relationships in order to add value to the company.

What steps have you taken to enhance your professional development and expand your legal skill set?

The steps that I have taken to enhance my professional development and expand my legal skills have been setting clear goals and objectives, because once you know what you want, you can develop a plan to get there. Also, being open to feedback and being persistent in your day-to-day have been very important too. I also try to continue my legal education through seminars and courses, for example, I took the ‘Seminario de Derecho de las Tecnologías Digitales’ in October last year, which was extremely enriching to my development and new skills. Also, I try all the time to stay on trend with the new technologies. I enjoy reading and doing courses, for example, I recently took the Generative AI Fundamentals Google Cloud course which I passed with a score of 90/100.