About

Distinguished legal manager Laura Castañeda has impressed peers and clients by leading a number of strategic projects in the market and has won recognition in the Latin American press for her many achievements. In her time at Cementos Progreso – one of Guatemala’s largest companies – her legal expertise has produced outcomes that many in the market believed were impossible. For example, she led on a $850m recovery of one of the group’s companies, helping to remove it from a liquidation process in just three months. Internally, Castañeda has drawn particular notice for her role in re-organising the legal department of the group to transform it in an internal ‘mini-law firm’. ‘We implemented a “time keeper” system to control and record data across the department and show how this productivity gives value to the business’, she says. Castañeda has been instrumental in creating the legal policy of the group and further solidifying the relationship with the board and the CEO. As a senior figure herself, she is most proud of her ability to make a positive social contribution, commenting that at Cementos Progreso, a significant employer in Guatemala, the lawyers ‘have a huge responsibility to be leaders of change in the country’. She also holds a number of senior positions outside the office and is a director of the Board Gremial Extractive Industries, a member of the labour commission on behalf of Chamber of Industry of Guatemala, and has previously served as a member of the board of the Colombian Chamber of Business in Guatemala (CANEGUA).