This interview was conducted during Reguera’s time as EMEA compliance and ethics, privacy and corporate legal director at International Paper

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The corporate spin-off undertaken to my company separating the packaging from the paper business has been our major challenge in 2021. The separation required to build all the compliance, privacy and corporate legal processes for the new entity whilst adapting all existing policies and procedures in the remaining company. Given the reduced size of our legal team, new development plans were required to cover the lack of expertise in the team for the new assignments. Training, cooperation, and task prioritisation have been essential to balance the regular legal responsibilities with all the additional needs imposed by the spin-off requirements. While the spin-off was separating business and teams, we had to ensure that the new company was able tofunction independently from day one. Whilst working on the spin-off, we also assisted the divestiture of some of our business units in Poland and Turkey. Despite the disruptions, we have managed to build and develop a network of privacy subject matter experts in the different locations of the company across EMEA, extending the imprint of privacy-GDPR program requirements beyond the legal department.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic has forced us to be more efficient in the way to handle meetings and project management. The in-house counsel’s support has been solicited in different ways and for many new areas. The value of in-house expertise has been increasingly added to the face of external law firms. Companies need to streamline and improve resources allocations more than ever. The general counsel is constantly required to adjust as well as to balance efficiency and accuracy. We need to operate a constant risk assessment to allocate time and resources amongst equally important matters. Uncompromised legal judgment and alignment with the business on the company’s strategic interest is key for a general counsel’s success.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this?

After the spin-off, we are still adjusting teams and resources to the new organisation. The company aims to excel in the market whilst bringing all the announced savings. In my role at EMEA level, I plan to contribute with innovative ways to optimise resources, while making education and training the base of all regulatory and privacy compliance areas. Training teams in the compliance requirements we face is the best way to empower them to own the implementation of the projects.