What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

At Imagina Grupo Inmobiliario, every year, we set challenges for ourselves and this time I had to lead one of them, related to developing and implementing the company’s internal communication plan.

Definitely, it is the challenge that impacted me the most, but at the same time it also motivated me, since it was a totally different field from the legal one, which required more effort on my part so that, regardless of my day-to-day work, I can investigate and learn about internal communication strategies, linked to the construction of employer branding, in order to strengthen strategic alignment, the company’s culture, as well as the commitment of all employees, considering that an internal communication plan does not It should only address the means and mode of communication of the company’s messages, but encourage active listening.

A challenge entails overcoming a series of obstacles, and considering that as a result of the state of emergency due to the pandemic, companies adopted a remote work model, the great challenge of this was that the design and strategy of the communication plan contemplates and prioritises human reconnection and, therefore, the decongestion of digital channels, which were saturated with information due to the digital communication necessary in times of pandemic.

Although this challenge required additional effort and time on my part, the multidisciplinary team that accompanied me throughout this process was the one who made possible the great results obtained so far, although we are just in the implementation stage and we know that there is a There is still a long way to go, considering that in this digital age it is still a great challenge for companies to improve communication between work teams through a conscious and planned approach, in order to foster a collaborative culture.

Finally, I can point out that this case leads us to several reflections, one of which is that doing tasks that we are not usually used to or working on different issues means leaving our comfort zone, and that is certainly good, but it is even better, to achieve the objective or meet a goal in situations that test our capabilities.

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

We cannot deny the entry of technology to the legal market. The application of technology in the legal market, which today is known as legal tech, mainly means saving time, optimising resources and reducing conflicts for firms and legal departments of companies. Indeed, the benefits of legal technological tools lead to the possibility of offering greater transparency, making efficient use of resources, carrying out the collection and processing of information more quickly, achieving optimised communication and reducing errors and errors. other hidden problems.

The innovation processes that the legal market is going through and that have had a strong boost as a result of the pandemic, are legal design, artificial intelligence, big data, CRM, electronic signature, among others, however, it is important to analyse and identify what is the technology that is required according to the needs of each one. It would be of little use to implement artificial intelligence software, if you do not have all the procedural files digitised. Likewise, it would be of little use to have an electronic signature system with facial identification, if the contract must be signed by hand, because current legislation does not allow a contract with electronic signatures to be converted into a public deed.

For this reason, it is necessary to generate a strategy, identify or define the most important processes and based on this, evaluate the possibility of applying a technological tool, to achieve the objective of optimising resources and reducing time in the internal processes of the organisation. .

Although artificial intelligence models threaten to take away, from the lawyer, a large number of tasks with little added value that are carried out every day, it is clear that technology will not be able to completely replace the work of a lawyer, especially since the legal world is very interpretive, which means that in each particular situation it is necessary to resort to the analytical capacity and the level of interpretation of the lawyer.

However, active regulation by the Peruvian government will be necessary, from a broad perspective where these new digital tools can be used throughout the flow of a certain operation and not happen as with digital signatures, which although today have value from the legal, contractual and non-repudiation point of view, the truth is that a digitally signed contract cannot be elevated to a public deed, because the notary law does not allow it, therefore its modification is urgent.

One of the legal digital tools that has caught my attention and I think it will be very useful in the legal field is artificial intelligence through which it will be possible to analyse the historical record of judicial decisions in order to find patterns and trends, which will help predict the possible ruling of a magistrate and therefore will allow the design of a better legal strategy.

In this sense, I am in favour of a role of law that privileges the survival of the digital world and promotes it, avoiding evaluating it with a view of rules designed for a different reality than the current one.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

The policies of municipal governments generate great concern in the real estate sector. Some municipal governments without any reason have adopted internal policies of not allowing the development of social housing projects within their jurisdiction, even though the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation indicates otherwise.

Without going too far, the Municipality of Magdalena issued an ordinance through which it suspended the issuance of building licenses for a period of six months, thus causing damages to estate, since the failure to obtain a license entails a delay of the construction of the project and therefore delay in the delivery of the real estate units to the final clients. Other municipal governments driven by social pressure from the residents of the district are not allowing taller constructions, even though the previous municipal management would have approved a preliminary project with that number of floors.

These municipal government policies have even led to financial entities, to which real estate developers normally resort to finance the construction of real estate projects, have been forced to incorporate clauses in their financing contracts, where it is considered as a substantially adverse effect the fact that if in the opinion of the bank the development of the project was affected by political issues of the municipal governments.

As can be seen, this position that some municipal governments have been adopting generates uncertainty in the real estate market, which even ends up affecting the supply of housing in districts where there are no clear rules of the game.

For this reason, it will be necessary for the Peruvian government to intervene by issuing clear rules and guidelines where the orderly development of the city is promoted and therefore allows the construction of low-income housing in some areas of all the districts of Metropolitan Lima, considering the high demand for housing that exists and considering that the potential market that predominates is that of young people, who every day have greater purchasing power.

Likewise, the Peruvian state must not lose sight of the fact that companies, at an economic level, have been recovering little by little from the Peruvian political crisis, even more so considering the situation in which the Mi Vivieda fund (Fondo Mi Vivieda) has been involved, for which it is important and It is necessary to create mechanisms and adopt public policies, so that investors bet on the country.