Team size: 70

Juan Carlos Bustamante Gonzales serves as the chief legal counsel and secretary of the board of directors of Banco de la Nación since 2015. Juan Carlos is also an arbitrator assigned to the payrolls of the Arbitration Centers of the Lima Chamber of Commerce, the American Chamber of Commerce of Perú, and the Lima Bar Association. He is a professor of Commercial Law at the University of Lima, holds a master’s degree in business law from the Catholic University of Perú, and possesses over 18 years of experience in the financial industry, Juan Carlos has pursued postgraduate studies in Management, Financial Risk Administration, and Tort Law in the United States, Spain, and Perú. He is an Internationally Certified Compliance Professional (2019), accredited by the International Federation of Compliance Association (IFCA) and the Spanish Compliance Association (ASCOM). Since 2013, he has been part of Advisory Committees at the Lima Bar Association, in matters of his speciality.

How do you approach managing legal issues during periods of instability or crisis, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure organisational resilience?

I address the management of legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis directly through leadership, maintaining active and constant communication between my legal team and the main actors within the organisation. Likewise, I employ management strategies such as legal project management, and I remain highly attentive to the movement of the technology market for the legal sector. This allows me to resort to technological tools that fit the needs of my company, even if only temporarily, as is often the case during periods of instability or crisis.

Given my team’s deep knowledge of the company’s commercial objectives and the paths that the commercial team will take to achieve them, my legal strategy is aligned with the company’s overall commercial strategy. In this manner, the commercial team is convinced that my legal team is a strategic partner seeking to jointly achieve the objectives, rather than an obstacle to overcome.

What emerging technologies do you think will have the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future and how do you stay up to date on these developments?

Artificial intelligence for automation is one of the emerging technologies that will have a significant impact on the legal profession in 2024. Along these lines, the legal market will see a greater share of participation from alternative models of legal service providers (ALSP) aiming to displace traditional law firms.

Additionally, cloud-based platforms and self-executing contracts through blockchain technology will play a crucial role. Likewise, platforms focusing on cybersecurity and regulatory compliance in specific legal specialties, such as competition law, labour, or consumer protection, will become more prevalent.

I stay updated on the development of these technologies through constant and ongoing training, as well as subscriptions to specialised publications and continuous interaction with professionals linked to law and technology.

In your opinion, what are the main trends that currently stand out in your country?

The main trends that stand out in my country are the unstoppable rise of digital transformation, constant corporate development with a sharp emphasis on integrity, partnerships between the public sector and the private sector for the development of projects with great social impact, such as in the case of public service infrastructure works, and greater specialisation in the resolution of complex conflicts, both legally and economically, on the part of the country’s legal and financial actors.