What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The most significant transactions that our legal teams have recently been involved with include licensing content from such major Brazilian publishers as Editora Globo, Estado de Sao Paulo and Grupo Abril, the acquisitions of electrical contractors in the Sun Belt, including sale-and-leaseback financing, and acquisitions of plumbing and HVAC contractors in Florida with asset-based financing.

Did the pandemic lead to a lasting increase in the interaction your legal team has with the strategic plans of the company?

The lockdown response to the pandemic starting in March 2020 had trivial effect on our online media business, because many of us were already working from home offices, and our contacts with customers and suppliers were not interrupted. However, the work of basic industries such as electrical and plumbing contractors was interrupted by government regulations, without any compensation, and since they have recovered slowly, although faster in reasonably regulated states like Florida and Texas.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

As we enter the next decade, what I look for most in a corporate legal team to succeed in the modern economy is cognitive diversity, which means diversity of skills, such as litigation, contracts, tax, real estate, intellectual property and the like, of temperament, such as appetite for risk and risk-aversion, entrepreneurship, and of experience, especially in business and with international transactions, like speaking a second language and living abroad. Additionally, I consider essential a diversity of backgrounds, such as avoiding concentration on hiring JD’s and LLM’s from only a few selected law schools, and welcoming other degrees like MBA’s and CPA’s, and avoid quotas for ethnic and sexual diversity.