Team size: Four

What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Over the past year, while we prefer not to disclose specific cases, our legal team has been deeply involved in complex environmental permitting processes in order to secure the construction of key infrastructure projects, working closely with external counsels to comply and reach COD fully covering all applicable regulations, and maintaining active dialogue with local ministries and public agencies, given the critical importance to ensure the availability of electrical transmission infrastructure in Chile.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

Times of instability or crises usually are not solely addressed from a legal point of view. As a big company, critical situations are managed considering internal crisis protocols, involving coordination with multiple departments and governance levels. From the legal side, we work closely with internal teams (projects/O&M/Environmental/etc) to ensure a comprehensive understanding of each case, as this approach allows us to secure that all relevant stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process, ensuring that legal risks are properly managed and that the company’s operational continuity and long-term interests are protected.

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?

Lately, we have been closely following one of the most significant regulatory changes in Chile, as the new Law regarding general permits (“Ley Marco Authorizations Sectoriales”) is shortly expected to be in force. This legislation looks forward to streamline and modernise the permitting process for many sectoral authorisations, changes that will be critical for infrastructure and energy projects, and it was designed to maintain environmental standards while facilitating investments and accelerating project timelines.  In my view, this is a major development that should be attended and followed by any in-house counsel working on Energy/Infrastructure sectors.

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?

On a general basis, we handle most legal matters in-house. Our decision to seek external legal counsels is mainly influenced by the complexity of the matter, including key factors such as financial impact, legal or technical difficulty, and strategic relevance for the board of directors (specially at “headquarters”), considering of course the annual budget available to engage external advisors, which might have a relative impact on the decision as well. We evaluate their performance based on the quality of their advice, results, cost-efficiency and close working relationship with our teams. We particularly appreciate external advisors to be fully available for urgent calls or sudden meetings).