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

Most recently, we worked in a GE separation, creating three independent public companies, focusing their businesses on aviation, healthcare and energy. Also, I have been leading all legal initiatives in Latin America, identifying risks and opportunities and developing partnership with businesses to better prepare us for the abovementioned imminent separation within our structure.

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use? Examples could be greater flexibility in billing, a more expansive suite of services offered, more transparency in reporting ESG statistics etc.

One thing I believe to be very important is that still, sometimes, law firms try to provide a service that is not exactly what the company needs. From my experience, this still happens multiple times, probably because the communication between both parties is not always clear enough, and I think it is crucial for law firms to always be in sync with what our business really needs. Another essential issue for our team when dealing with external law firms is ESG. Most recently, we conducted a survey for law firms who which to work with us, which included questions regarding inclusion and diversity within their structures and on transparency as well. We need to make sure that law firms we work with have the same standards of ethics that we do. There is still a lot of room for improvement, regarding how they bill and how they organise their financial departments.

If you have worked in other countries, what are the main challenges unique to operating as an in-house counsel in your current location?

The biggest challenge is not always being in loco, not being in the exact place where the problem has developed and for which you need to find solutions. The pandemic only aggravated this challenge with the introduction of rigid regulations, working from home and virtual meetings. Unfortunately, sometimes, when we are distant, we might develop a different perception of what is exactly happening, which can lead us to make wrong decisions. Compared to other countries, I have also found it a bit more difficult to find local law firms that are ideal for the industry in which we work. As a result, we end up hiring the services of international law firms, which is a big burden for us, as they generally represent a higher cost, due to their global reputation.