Major legal advisors: Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados, Tozzini Freire Advogados, Ernesto Tzirulnik Advocacia, Santos Bevilaqua Advogados, Lacaz Martins, Pereira Neto, Gurevich & Schoueri Advogados, K&L Gates LLP, Clyde & Co, Maples and Calder LLP, Osterling Abogados, Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados, and CK Advogados & Associados

Jurisdictions your role covers: Brazil, United States of America, United Kingdom, Cayman Islands, Peru and Angola

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

The most significant case at Horiens has been the international expansion of business activities. The company has been involved in cross-board transactions for decades, with global reach and vast insurance and reinsurance experience in different jurisdictions, but client demands, new regulations and growth perspective have driven us to go further. Different lines of business and foreign environments require local presence and establishment of new affiliates or branches. The legal analysis behind the international expansion involves many legal aspects, especially in insurance and reinsurance regulation, taxation, governance and corporate matters. As a result, the company has evaluated and compared those aspects in different jurisdictions, and it has concluded about the feasibility and strategic relevance of incorporating new entities in certain countries. That conclusion also led us to a corporate reorganization, which comprises the incorporation of a sub-holding that will consolidate different lines of business per jurisdiction. Those changes will also strength commercial relationships with local players and involve interaction with public authorities, which will require enhancement of controls in terms of compliance.

What new pressures are you facing from the business as expectations for legal to act as a strategic partner continue to grow?

Managing time has been even more challenging nowadays, and prioritization of demands has been crucial for handling the pressure that comes from the business areas. The strategic legal support requires a pragmatic approach to focus on strategic matters, delegation of activities to the best legal resource available, whether internally or externally, and clear communication. Being able to provide legal support in strategic matters requires necessarily the observance of timing, which can only be done if the adequate legal resources are duly allocated.

How is your organisation adapting to the rapid evolution of data protection, AI governance and cybersecurity requirements in Brazil?

The company has been successful in developing and improving its data protection and cybersecurity framework, even because it is part of the company’s business activity to provide risk assessments and insurance solutions in those fields, which previously required analysis of respective legal aspects. The company has also dedicated resources to evaluate the best uses and practices of artificial intelligence, which has required reasonable efforts to allow different areas of the company to adapt and keep on track with its rapid evolution. The concerns of governance applied to artificial intelligence have also been discussed as a potential risk, and we are mindful about it.

What strategies has your legal team adopted to manage disputes and mitigate risks in Brazil’s dynamic business environment?

The company has been subject to mistaken disputes from private parties that do not understand the insurance industry, its players and responsibilities of each one. Unfortunately, it represents an undue cost for the company, since it is required to engage law firms to file a sort of motion to dismiss requesting to the Brazilian court the exclusion of the company as defendant from those lawsuits. To mitigate that risk, the company has been proactive in clarifying its role before private parties, which has reduced the number of new mistaken disputes, as well as the company has been monitoring new lawsuits, with the external support of a legal technology platform in Brazil, to allow our team to solve problems and prevent litigation.