Corporate legal manager | Pasteurizadora Rica
Lauren Vargas Samariego
Corporate legal manager | Pasteurizadora Rica
What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?
This year, we have participated in the review of legislative proposals in areas such as healthcare, food labelling, and labour matters, all aimed at strengthening public policy. Our contribution has been key in incorporating the industry’s perspective into these proposals. In parallel, we have led the digital transformation of the legal department through the implementation of LegalTech tools for contract and risk management, improving internal response times by 40%.
How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
Legal analysis cannot be limited to internal developments or national legislative changes. For our institution, maintaining a global perspective has been essential to keep pace with legal challenges. We segment regions based on similarities with our countries such as language, culture, and geopolitical conditions to assess their potential influence on adoption. This strategy enables us to stay informed and alert to emerging changes, ensuring operational continuity and compliance.
What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with your country’s data protection laws?
Having clear policies that outline the required actions and approvals within the organisation is essential. In the legal field, streamlining processes bringa significant benefits but also risks if mechanisms are not properly designed to safeguard sensitive information. Our department is guided by internal policies that promote the implementation of tools using AI and LegalTech, accelerating tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming. For example, the identification of intellectual property risks, which previously took four hours to complete, was reduced to just 45 minutes using these technologies without compromising quality or legal security.
Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?
With the rise of LegalTech and artificial intelligence tools, I believe it is essential for legal departments to develop three key internal documents that will allow them to harness the full potential of these technologies while protecting their organisations from malicious threats: a data handling and confidentiality policy, a malware management policy, and a code of ethics. These documents are fundamental to prevent becoming victims of the same tools that offer us so many advantages.
What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?
All matters related to formulations or trade secrets are handled internally by our legal team to maintain strict control over processes with significant business implications. However, external legal counsel plays a crucial role in contractual negotiations. We strive for a balanced approach where we benefit from their expertise and complement it with our in-depth business knowledge from a legal perspective. This ensures that contracts provide protection against potential litigation, facilitate smooth business development, and strengthen relationships between the parties involved.