About

The legal department at IBM Mexico is comprised of a group of talented lawyers with diverse educational and professional backgrounds who specialise on a broad range of IT related matters such as cognitive solutions, cloud computing and blockchain. They also provide support and advice on all sorts of legal matters including contract negotiation, corporate and labour matters, data privacy and litigation, among others. The six senior lawyers and clerk, all report directly into to the regional counsel for Mexico, Angelica Santiago. Among the team, key individuals are: Gerardo Sepulveda, with significant expertise in M&A and financial regulations; Yanette Gutierrez, with significant expertise on managing relationships with associate business partners and leading litigation matters; and Gerardo Diaz, with significant expertise on international contracting and financing transactions, who is also in charge of data privacy matters. Santiago was appointed to lead the department in July 2017, and new members have joined the team over the past 24 months adding different skills. ‘IBM is known for its innovation and this is not different within the department as we have profited from internal tools at our disposal to support our internal and external clients more efficiently through different projects’, explains Santiago. In the last couple of years the team has provided support to a significant number of complex transactions with both domestic and international clients in diverse industries including the public sector. In 2018, the team was instrumental in helping IBM Mexico enter into multiyear agreement with a major financial entity with a value in excess of US$1bn. Other important projects have included: the implementation of an electronic signature process for contractual documents in compliance with Mexican regulations; the legal assessment and local implementation of practises to comply with the GDPR; meetings with general counsel from different clients to debate the legal nuances of new technologies such as blockchain and IOT, as well as challenges faced by companies while dealing with data privacy and cyber-security issues. Santiago highlights that, the ‘IBM Mexico legal team’s top priority is to protect IBM’s brand and reputation through sound legal advice and providing creative solutions to help the company’s business model succeed’.