About

After 10 years developing his legal career in domestic and international law firms, in 2006 Marcelo Lucon moved in-house. In 2009 he assumed the general counsel role at Ecorodovias Infraestrutura e Logistica and, in 2013, added the executive legal director role of Ecorodovias Group that encompass legal, corporate governance, board secretary, compliance and the ethics program. During his time in-house, wherever he went, Lucon has implemented what he calls ‘deep legal knowledge of your business’. He believes it to be mandatory that in-house counsel have deep technical legal knowledge of the business in theory and practice as well as business nuance. He says, ‘the industry is better served by in-house counsels who are very well prepared and therefore able to be creative, to anticipate demands and to respond queries of the relevant business aiming at providing high-quality advise and saving costs and time to the whole corporation’. In his experience, this approach has caused stakeholders to increasingly access the legal department, which turned out to be more efficient and accurate. Lucon leads on all legal matters including a complex negotiation lasting several years, involving regulatory matters, and multidisciplinary fields of law that, if successful, will solve a relevant litigation. Although still in progress, this negotiation path is already considered a leading case. Apart from that, Lucon co-led an important M&A, capital market transaction of R$1bn and business re-structure that involved stakeholders with opposite interests and difficult negotiations. Lucon identifies that being part of a legally savvy and business minded team is incredibly important to his success. He says that, ‘one should be surrounded by individuals that like their work, are absolutely ethical and honest and, above all, are happy’.