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

Most recently, we have been involved in a series of M&A transactions. As we you know, the telecom industry in Brazil is experiencing a lot of recent activity, and as an internet service provider we focus on fixed broadband fibre for home connections, mainly focusing on the countryside of Brazil. That means, reaching out to medium and small sized cities throughout the country. Our legal team has supported the company in making a series of acquisitions, and since the very beginning and up until now, we have concluded 17 M&A transactions. As a young company, still in formation, I believe we have done a good work on that subject. Also, in 2019, we received investment from a private equity firm, Venture Partners, and we have used these funds to expand organically.

In the present, we are dealing with multiple companies in various regions throughout Brazil, with different cultures and different ways of working. And this is the main challenge, as we need to adapt and integrate those contrasting aspects, finding new ways of doing business, but preserving the environment in which we work. We are focusing in the southeast and southern regions of Brazil, where you find very dissimilar cultures, which increases the difficulty even more. Lastly, I cannot forget to mention the challenge of bringing synergies and efficiency to our operations and, as general counsel and M&A director, I need to support our team, as without these two components we will not be successful on the long term.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

To succeed in this modern in-house industry, I think you need to be flexible and understand the hurdles and constraints that your business and business partners face. So, as opposed to a law firm’s behaviour of focusing solely on the legal issues, to be a successful corporate counsel you need to adapt to the company’s vision and work ethic. And in order to do that, one needs to be flexible. Also, you need to be a person that is interested and competent in several different fields and activities, to be able to help your business partners. You need to support the business towards taking the right risks, but you must not enter that unknown area without knowing what you are going to do to face it. You need to work together, provide analytical and rational thinking, to show the business exactly what challenges the company faces. That, I think, is the secret of a successful legal in-house team.