Team size: Two

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?

PSN’s legal management during periods of instability or crises rely on three pillars: (i) planning, (ii) involving relevant strategic company’s areas in the planning process, and (iii) having the best team around (including external counsels). This legal planning is built around the organisation’s business strategy and factors in all internal relevant teams. This how we ensure that notwithstanding the intensity of the crisis, we are in a position to take action, even if the particular crises was unforeseen. Considering that PSN is a gold mining project, that is completing its environmental assessments to request an environmental license, we do not have a large in-house team, but work with the best possible advisors in all relevant matters, like Baker Mckenzie, Ricaurte Rueda (Margarita Ricaurte – Best mining lawyer in Colombia) and Solames.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?

AI is definitely the main tool that will impact the legal profession in the near future, provided that the company is open to implement these kinds of technologies. Companies often ignore implementing this kind of tools for the legal department, and still use dated tools, as Word templates and manual revisions. Therefore, legal head departments must be aware of the everchanging technological landscape, and measure, within the needs and context of the company’s business. For example, as I initiated in PSN, I identified that the team did not used proper technological tools to do legal research, and one of the first measures taken was to hire a software that would solve that shortcoming. This tool implements AI that shortened the team’s time in their legal research, and also rendered more accurate and better legal answers from the project.

We are constantly on the look for new technologies, which we assess if our project needs as of now, or will be needed for future stages of the project.