Team size: Six

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

My number one challenge of 2022 has been mentoring a group of young lawyers and advising them on being in-house lawyers who are part of the business and not just a resource that is needed when there are problems, as well as experiences that helped me grow as a counsel within a company and become a strategic partner of senior management.

This opportunity allowed me to celebrate my team members and I was proud to see that the people I guided are being recognised and managing to grow as professionals.

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

I believe that lawyers will have to incorporate and adapt to technological advancements in the form of AI in their day-to-day tasks. We should not see these technologies as a threat, but rather as an opportunity to make our work faster, of higher quality and much simpler. By automating certain processes, we will be able to have more time to immerse ourselves in the law, analyse it and propose improvements to the regulation. Any technological tool for the good of society should be welcomed.

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

The involvement of the legal department in the heart of the business is something that I have always tried to investigate and advocate for. However, this inclusion requires a change of mentality; a legal area is not only the place to go when things go wrong.

It is for this reason that I try to establish a precedent that reaffirms our position not only as a support area, but as a business partner, someone who can make things easier, while warning you of potential dangers, assuming risks like a part of every business and being involved in high-level decision making.