First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently?

At CBC INTL in Uruguay, we manage all strategic business relationships with suppliers. Specifically, our department deals with the legal aspects of CBC’s global procurement hub supporting production at 21 plants in Latin America.

This year, our main project as a team, is to implement a centre of excellence procurement. CBC is convinced that this new area will increase efficiency and minimise risks of supply. The main challenge is not only to centralise the business terms and documentation, but also to disseminate the best procurement practices to all CBC entities constantly growing. Obviously, this challenge is also complemented with compliance framework, as all our suppliers should comply with laws and regulations and the company’s code of ethics. Suppliers commit to principles including safe, inclusive work practices that are included in standard agreements. CBC also adheres to the United Nations global compact that addresses human rights, labour standards, and environment and anti-corruption policies, so suppliers need to, as well. As a legal department we need to face all these challenges in a multi-cultural environment not only from the side of the suppliers, but also with the growth of our client´s business. Finally, we must emphasize the difficulties going through all these procedures during the pandemic, whose effects continue to impact the way we do business.

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

Our legal team supports procurement teams from legal perspective all around CBC´s business units. This implies to learn and understands the business as we are partners with the procurement team and other project managers around the organisation.

Our work is not only to deal with suppliers but mainly to care about regulatory and legal risks in which we need to have a perfect understanding of what you are buying, who is your supplier and how you will deal with all risks involved, to guarantee timely and efficient supply of all necessary materials.

Clearly our legal work has been changing. As in-house lawyers we are part of the business, so our main task is to provide legal advice, always including the company’s business strategy.

What can law firms do to improve their service to the legal department?

The interaction between law firms and clients changed radically during the pandemic. They moved from face-to-face interactions to a world in which many of their clients are working from home. Therefore, law firms must improve their communication skills and adapt those them to this new digital era where meetings are scheduled and held digitally. I would like to have the opportunity to schedule digital meetings with external lawyers, just like with everyone in our organisation. Digital meetings can facilitate having meetings more frequently, and in my opinion, it is still a challenge for them to increase time and efficiency.

Lastly, another issue which can help law firms, is to be more specialized as people can be hired around the world. This means to have besides corporate lawyers, specific lawyers in the supply chain, or other aspects of their clients’ industries.