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

We advise and provide legal support to a business group of 31 companies with more than 10,000 workers. We have recently designed the defence strategy for a group of 23 lawsuits filed against the clinic for a value of approximately $10m. A favourable result has been obtained for the company despite initial negative forecasts. During the last year, seven new group companies have been set up. The corporate restructuring was conducted, designing and culminating with a spin-off by segregating the patrimonial block. In the field of education, the institute that is part of the group has satisfactorily completed the licensing process by MINEDU under the advice of the area I lead. In the area of health, three of the group’s clinics were reaccredited for Joint Commission International, with the team participating in comprehensive advice. Agreements were negotiated and signed within the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic with ESSALUD and SIS to care for patients who needed mechanical ventilation.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic has changed the course of practising the profession, accelerating changes for greater digitisation of processes. Lawyers can develop their role in corporate advice and legal defence. The pandemic has touched these two edges in the same way – advice can be given through teleworking outside the office, and legal defence can now be done through virtual hearings. This definitively positive points allow time freed up, and the possibility of holding hearings from anywhere. It has also made it possible not to depend on a rigid schedule, being able to present the resources 24 hours a day.

What are some of the key developments – legal, geopolitical or otherwise – that have affected your business over the past year?

In the area of health, the demand for services, both medical services and prepaid medicine, increased notably. Many more people became aware of having health insurance, which has forced us to undertake several new projects to provide these services to most of the population. In the area of education, there was a need, in a short time, to change from face-to-face education to a virtual methodology, for which equipment and technology had to be acquired and workers and students trained in its use. The hotel industry, one of the hardest hit areas, has had to look for alternatives to traditional tourism to survive the time of the pandemic.