How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

As we have seen in the past few years, the legal team has been playing an increasingly central role within large organisations. This is also true when it comes to crises management and highly complex matters. Legal professionals, especially the most experienced ones, have the ability to navigate across different areas, ask good questions, raise risks, and help with indicating reasonable solutions. In my view, building a strong and empowered team is key to addressing some of these matters. Teams who collaborate, have different backgrounds, and pursue simple and actionable ideas should have a better chance of succeeding in periods of instability and crises.

What are the major cases or transactions you have been involved in recently?

Leading the legal area in a large organisation, present in different jurisdictions (including mature and emerging markets), I have been able to work on several cases and transactions. Some of the most relevant cases have been related to tax in Brazil, where the regulatory and litigation scenario has been challenging, and commercial matters. As to transactions, some of the most interesting deals have involved multiple jurisdictions across Latin America and complex contractual arrangements with multiple stakeholders. For instance, we have concluded the last tranche of the acquisition of Cervecería Nacional Dominicana, S.A. (CND) in the Dominican Republic and we have negotiated the sale of the Company’s operations in Dominica, Antigua, and Saint Vincent to a third party (this transaction is still subject to local authorities’ approval).

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

As an example, in order to foster sustainability within the organisation, the senior leadership of Ambev has at least one target related to our ecosystem sustainability – which can relate to water, responsible drinking, ethics and other matters. Also, in the past few years, the company as whole has been pursuing various goals related to the environment and social impact of our business in the communities we operate, as disclosed to all our stakeholders. This is a collective effort in all countries in which we are present. The legal team acts in several ways as a gatekeeper of this strategy, interacting with various areas, governance bodies and external stakeholders, and making sure the tone from the top/team promotes our sustainability culture and goals.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?

More than a specific technology, we have been observing more and more the importance of the use of data by legal professionals in the decision-making process. Being familiar with and able to apply statistical models to legal cases has been vital to generate insights and smarter decisions. The higher the number of cases and the more complex the scenario, the more relevant data becomes. This applies to business and to legal strategy as well.