About

Grupo Agrisal is a Salvadoran conglomerate with a primary focus to develop and operate hotels and commercial real estate projects in Central and South America. In El Salvador, Grupo Agrisal represents premium brands in the automotive sector. Currently operating out of El Salvador, the conglomerate’s legal team, led by Nidia Pérez, manages all legal matters pertaining all Salvadorian, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, and Panamanian companies. Most of Pérez’s role consists of giving legal advice, managing outside counsel where needed, and supervising and following up all current cases until their conclusion. Of the biggest changes implemented in the legal function over the past three years, Pérez points out the transformation in the way the business areas of the group perceive the legal department. ‘The department is now viewed as a teammate that can understand the needs of the business areas and help them actively in achieving their goals. I also think that we have changed the outlook the members of the legal department have of themselves. Now they understand more the importance of their role in the company and how our proactive and timely work can help protect the company and promote the achievement of business and strategic goals’, Pérez states. As a result, Pérez and her legal colleagues are often asked to give their input on important strategic issues. Pérez’s team works closely with the business from the very inception of transactions and is expected to share different points of view, and find better, safer, less costly ways to attend matters and prevent possible contingencies. With the regional and business-specific expansion that Grupo Agrisal is currently undertaking, Pérez is under pressure to provide high quality legal advice under restricted resources. She explains: ‘With a limited number of people in the department, the current work load, the restraints in budgets and the increasing regulatory demands, it has been a challenge to improve and design better ways to attend more responsibilities, with improved quality, in the same amount of time and with the same resources’. Prior to joining her current employer in 2013, Pérez held a number of positions both in-house and in the public sector.