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

The most important cases of the legal team in charge, resulted in the permitting viability of the expansion of our operations, allowing the beginning of exploration activities (Nancy, Arequipa; San Miguel, Cusco and Condoroma, Cusco) in new areas; the transition from thermal energy generation (fuel) to electricity generation at El Santo Mining Unit, contributing significantly to the reduction of the carbon footprint resulting from this type of energy; and the expansion of installed mining and ore processing capacity by an additional third of the authorised capacity of El Santo, Arequipa and Suyckutambo, Cusco mining units. We are currently in the process of amending the Environmental Impact Study of these mining units to increase the authorised capacity by 200%.

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

The in-house lawyer is the advisor and supporter of all areas of the firm, so the pandemic has been a challenge because it has tested our ability to adapt. The office world has been abruptly abrogated by this phenomena, and remote working has naturally pushed aside lawyers who have not been able to reinvent themselves and continue transmitting confidence to their managers, internal clients and stakeholders.

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

The geopolitical events that had a relative impact on our activity were mainly two: the pandemic and the change of government. Due to the minimal predictability of the measures imposed by the State, we had to innovate measures along the way in order to protect our workers. The social conflict derived by the political situation, the minimum planning and dialogue of the State in terms of conflict prevention, has generated that in the provinces of Espinar, Cusco and Caylloma, Arequipa, different interest groups have opened spaces for dialogue against mining activity with independent agendas.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

LegalTechwill be an important milestone in the sector. Learning about tools such as legal design, legal design thinking, behavioural legal design, legal project management, business model canvas, and others will allow to develop a more efficient strategy to meet each annual’s objectives as well as managing the team’s human capital.