Following the disruption caused by last September\u2019s hurricane Irma, a re-scheduled reception for the launch of The Legal 500\u2019s GC Powerlist for US-based Latin America specialists took place at The Four Season\u2019s Hotel in Miami in mid-February. We were delighted to co-host the event with sponsors Lex Mundi, not only due to the prestige of this pre-eminent entity in the Legal Alliance space, but also because this meant that in-house counsel guests had representatives of almost every Latin American jurisdiction on hand.<\/p>\n
Following welcome addresses from Lex Mundi Chair, Marval O\u2019Farrell Mairal, Sebastian Iribarne and The Legal 500\u2019s Latin America editor, Tim Girven, guests moved to the ballroom for what became a very lively panel discussion on the specificities of the role of US-based regional counsel for Latin America, and the challenges faced by this very particular community. A hugely experienced line-up included: MasterCard\u2019s Victoria S\u00e1nchez; Rune Riegels Christensen, from ISS; Avon\u2019s Marta Carreira-Slabe; and Alex Tolston from Hemisphere Media Group, along with Paulo Rocha of Lex Mundi\u2019s Brazilian member firm, Demarest, who was on hand to give a private-practice perspective.<\/p>\n
Issues ranged from the validity of the regional in-house role, when (as one of the panellists had so eloquently argued) each jurisdiction is \u201ca world unto itself in many respects\u201d; the difficulties involved in remaining competitive when other local market participants are not compliant with US and European regulatory requirements; and the increasing role international corporations have as corporate citizens in the region. The conversation grew more boisterous once it was opened to questions from the floor – particularly as the issue of (perhaps inevitable) subject of corruption in the region raised its head. Indeed, when -in response to suggestions of comparability between Latin America and the US came to the fore after a particularly pointed (not to mention political) question, one panellist retorted -to general amusement – that the point \u201cwas like comparing oranges and Buicks\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was quite clearly time to conclude the panel, at which point the assembled attendees decamped to the Four Seasons\u2019 Edge Terrace, a Miami landmark, to network, chat, and enjoy drinks and canap\u00e9s in a balmy Florida evening. Suffice to say it was necessary to extend the bar for an additional hour or two as the conversations lengthened and deepened… Indeed, a few guests showed little inclination to call it a night until well into the small hours. I hazard to say that a good time was had by all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe event last night was very well done – I had a great time and really enjoyed the panel discussion!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0–\u00a0a Chief Regional Counsel attendee.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cCongratulations on the event [it was] \u201ca great opportunity to meet very interesting people and build relationships with clients and colleagues\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a private practitioner<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cVery honoured to be named to the Legal 500 GC Powerlist US: Latin America Specialists. I enjoyed speaking on the panel and meeting all the other honourees.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a panellist.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11236,"template":"","class_list":["post-389","event_report","type-event_report","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_report\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_report"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event_report"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_report\/389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}