Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

After making a diagnosis of our current CLM and review of our NPS results, I led the Contracts team to build up a strategic plan to review applicable policies and change our contract negotiation and drafting procedures. As a result, we now have a matrix for contracts, three different proceedings for formalisation of the same – based and depending on their materiality and risks — and have automatised simple tasks, avoiding lawyers’ mandatory review, promoting training and usage of templates by several client areas. Furthermore, our team is now focused on simplifying company´s templates and materials, issuing legal books and FAQ, as well as incorporating legal design and visual laws to make our clients confident, autonomous and less dependent of ‘lawyers’ nursery’. 

This is a journey that has not required much investment, in terms of financial costs or expenses, but a great amount of change management. Resistance to changes has been and still is a challenge, not only with respect to our internal clients but among our in-house team which is assimilating a new role with less control over the daily routine operations, in exchange to focus on strategic and more complex deals. 

What are some of the key developments (legal, geopolitical, or otherwise) that have affected your business over the past year?  

On 29 December 2022 Argentina approved a new toll for navigation in the sector Santa Fe-Confluencia, in the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway. Despite the numerous legal actions initiated by companies in Argentina and the complaints already made explicit to Argentina by the other parties to the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway Treaty (Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay), the toll has not been revoked as of this date. The tension regarding this new levy is increasing, both in diplomatic and private forums. Most of the agenda of this year 2023 has been affected by the consequences of this Argentinian measure and there are no changes expected in the short time.