Team size: 6

How do you manage legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis, ensuring that your legal strategy aligns with the broader business?

A context of instability or crisis constitutes the germ of a constant chain of outcomes that the professionals of an organisation must confront, maximising their capacity for awareness of reality and adaptation to the complex scenarios encountered during this stage of disruption, always with the objective of identifying opportunities to mitigate or overcome it.

A strategy for such scenarios is not built once a crisis has begun or while it is unfolding, when risk materialises into reality. Rather, one must address the management of legal aspects in advance, identifying potential risks across each area (our internal clients) of the company in order to establish an action plan aimed at mitigating any impact that the economic activity we undertake may face. In this regard, the leadership of the organisation’s officers is of paramount importance, as they internalise the relevance of constructing a crisis-management strategy and strengthening it periodically.

For example, in 2023 Peru experienced the negative factual effects of the attempted coup d’état by former President Pedro Castillo, with several transport routes in mining regions in the south of the country being affected, as well as strategic facilities (airports), temporarily disrupting the supply chain of industrial and domestic inputs necessary for the continuity of any economic activity. This potential event and its specific consequences for our mining operations had been previously identified prior to the crisis context, with the company’s senior management team designing an action plan at a contractual level to guarantee the supply of inputs, avoid disruption to payment chains and debt obligations, and ensure the delivery of mineral concentrates.

From a labour perspective, priority was given to maintaining the safety of our employees and seeking to avoid suspension or reduction of employment relationships. At a legal level, the implementation of a catalogue of administrative, judicial, and constitutional actions made it possible to strengthen the mining business strategy, which to date continues within a scenario of sustained production in the post-crisis period.

Are there any particular challenges for which in-house counsel should be preparing in 2026?

What I have been observing in legal departments is that they mostly operate with small or medium-sized teams, which increases the demand for technological tools capable of optimising processes and reducing manual workloads.

Among the most frequently mentioned challenges is resistance to change, the difficulty in demonstrating the impact of technological tools on the business, and the lack of sufficient resources and budgets to implement innovative solutions, particularly in highly regulated sectors such as banking, mining, and energy. This represents a significant challenge that lawyers must address in 2026: overcoming resistance to change.

For example, regulatory compliance and the management of disputes and litigation are positioned as key areas of interest. Nevertheless, the adoption of technologies such as digital signatures, document management, and electronic invoicing is currently expanding. As can be seen, legal departments face both challenges and opportunities, and these technologies also represent a valuable tool for legal managers.

There is no doubt that this implementation will greatly support a more organised and efficient document management system. While this is not an obligation, it should be recognised that automation greatly assists lawyers, allowing them to focus on the core business matters of the company.