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

Startup operations in Brazil and Portugal of an innovative product aimed at children. We knew that children’s interest in coding is currently valued, especially due to technological advances and children’s interest in handling cell phones, computers, etc. Our challenge was to convince parents of how important coding is for children, not only because of fun and hobby, but also in the collaboration of reasoning and learning in everyday school life.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

Yes, absolutely. Having external counsels that, in my case, have already worked with innovative products or startups is a big plus. This is because familiarity with the laws that apply to these niches is an advantage in guiding the company to the right path, as they have experience with mistakes as well, in addition to having a partner who knows that often-taking certain risks is part of the business.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

I’ve always been stickler of that. An in-house counsel who works alone without being aligned with other areas will never help the company succeed in the business, no matter how strictly the lawyer is following the Law. Understanding the day-to-day activities of other areas and their challenges means that the lawyer knows how to manage the business in a flexible way and takes certain risks that, alone, they would not. As I said above, it is part of the business to take certain risks.

Furthermore, lawyers increasingly play a strong role as advisers to senior management, even taking part in many cases. The lawyer must know everything about the business, sometimes much more than the local law.

What are some of the main legislative or regulatory changes that have impacted you?

The LGPD in Brazil and the GDPR in Europe in particular. My day to day also deals with sensitive data. It has been a great challenge to deal with both, as there are still some gaps in the law without precedent, which often makes us intuit what is the best way to protect personal data.