Team size: Approx. Twelve

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

In general, working closely with the Business and the different Divisions & Departments daily, offering practical solutions while exhaustively evaluating and identifying the potential risks to which the company may be exposed, particularly in terms of compliance, competition, data protection, intellectual property and procedural matters.

To do this, it is essential to know the Business in depth and involve them from minute one to understand their positioning, needs and difficulties. In this way, by being in continuous communication with the Business, we can ensure that our advice has practical implications and is fully aligned with the company’s strategy while mitigating the potential risks faced by the company by highlighting the advice provided.

Once the risks are identified, we prioritise them based on their importance, probability and the extent to which they may affect the Business. Next, we establish an action plan. As a preventive measure and to ensure the success of any action plan, particularly in times of crisis, we constantly review the level of communication and training, and of course we constantly keep both internal policies and the different processes established internally up to date. For critical cases, logically the action plans are more forceful, and we establish processes adapted to the specific situation that we previously agreed upon with our HQ. In those cases, we create an ad hoc task force that reviews the status of the plan daily. Obviously, both in Spain and in Portugal. We also have specialised advice from top-level firms to ensure that the measures to eliminate or mitigate risks are efficient.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation? 

Internal legal advisors already ensure in some way the sustainability of the company and a culture of regulatory compliance, so their experience and role within companies is essential to foster this culture internally. They must, consequently, adopt a leadership role in this area, communicating ESG criteria effectively, taking responsibility for ensuring that the company receives good training in this matter, proactively communicating the numerous benefits that ESG compliance entails, promoting commitment to our suppliers and customers. They can design programs to track compliance and control risks.

How have you integrated technology into your legal processes, and what impact has this had on efficiency and compliance? 

Like all business consultancies, we have both internal and external tools that make our work easier, especially around Contract Management.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation? 

The legal department plays a fundamental role. Corporate social responsibility cannot be understood without a good Compliance program. In addition, the Compliance department generally relies on the Legal Department to develop codes of conduct, review CSR reports, verify compliance within the organisation and in general when promoting an ethical culture within the company.

What do you see as the major legal challenges for businesses in Spain over the next five years, and how are you preparing to address them?

The excess of regulation in recent times (avalanche of new legislative projects at both the European and national and regional levels). It increases company costs, reduces flexibility and can hinder business. At Samsung we are constantly monitoring any regulatory developments that may have an impact on the Business, and we periodically send reports and summaries informing us about developments in a summarised and practical way. We follow up on the implementation of the necessary changes. We work together with our colleagues from the different subsidiaries in Europe and with our HQ in Korea so that our Business and our products can comply with applicable regulations at all times.

Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, computer fraud, data protection in the digital age. To be prepared, it is necessary to have greater specialisation/training of internal and external lawyers in certain areas, inform and raise awareness within the organisation and be closely linked to the Business. The Business, in turn, must be a participant in the legal strategy and understand that it must also have basic knowledge of areas such as data protection, compliance, etc. before launching/devising a project so that it can meet the necessary security and regulatory compliance requirements. since its origin.