Team size: legal team 25 + 13 (compliance team) + in-house local legal and compliance teams in several jurisdictions where we operate. Our team is multidisciplinary, with diverse cultures, languages, and jurisdictions.

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

Besides providing day-to-day support to all the Group companies, on a worldwide basis, dealing with regulators, clients and suppliers, partners, new business ventures, and selecting legal frameworks for new strategies, we at Fidelidade are lucky enough to constantly be involved in a variety of challenging legal issues. The economic cycles, presently marked by unstable interest rates and market volatility, only shape the type of transactions we are involved in, but not necessary their volume and, consequently, the workload of our legal team.

Throughout your career, what principles or values have guided your approach to leadership and decision-making within the legal department, and how do you believe they have contributed to your success?

Since the early years of my career, I have realized that being hard-working, proactive, positive and committed to the highest standards of integrity are valuable keys to building a successful career in the legal market. Besides this, trust is the foundation of a strong relationship with our clients, allowing a close alignment with the business goals of our internal clients, understanding their needs and motivations, and being able to translate them into workable and legally compliant solutions.

Throughout the years, I have sought to “lead by example”, encouraging my team members to learn from our projects and take ownership thereof, while trying to stay open to discussion and to always find time to offer guidance and assistance regardless of the high workload we always face. I am proud to have built a very strong and reliable team who works hard together with myself to overcome our daily challenges.

As regards decision-making, we are called to take multiple decisions every day, often under pressure and under uncertain circumstances. We make the difference when we can assess legal risk with a business mindset. This implies knowing very well the legal framework and being remarkably familiar with the business we are working on. I believe my past experiences have helped me enhance my decision-making skills, knowing how to make the right questions and to quickly identify the key aspects, risks and options of each situation to proactively help in solving business problems, driving growth, and delivering higher productivity.

As someone who has achieved remarkable success in the legal profession, what advice would you offer to aspiring general counsels or young legal professionals seeking to make a meaningful impact in their careers?

The new generations face quite different challenges than my generation did in our early years. Today, I see in younger professionals an accrued concern with one’s wellbeing and sense of purpose towards causes, which is good news. On the other hand, I sense sometimes frustration with the multiple challenges they, and humanity in general, face, which will shape our way of living and, naturally, their career path. I would advise the new generation to seek realisation in their professional career, not only by doing what they like, but also by working actively to find the beauty of what they do. This means finding joy and purpose in the many challenges a legal career can pose to ambitious professionals.

Additionally, technology represents both an opportunity and a threat to today’s legal professionals. The working environment is changing more quickly than ever, demanding from us the resilience and capacity to adapt to the new circumstances in a brief period of time. My advice to younger professionals in this field is to always be proactive in experimenting and adapting to the new technologies available, while being guided by principles of integrity and ethics in all circumstances. In a nutshell, we lawyers need, more than ever, to be able to adapt to change, embrace it, and evolve with it. We must be flexible, objective, technically prepared, and ambitious.