Vicepresidente de asuntos legales y director de gobierno corporativo | UNIBANK
Legal counsel, governmental relations and compliance officer | Samsung Electronics
General counsel and senior legal director | Cable and Wireless Panama
Legal and government affairs manager for Central America and Dominican Republic | Avon
Regional legal director, Central America | Colgate-Palmolive
Legal and corporate affairs Central America and Caribbean | Kimberly-Clark
General counsel, Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic | EY
Directora Legal | INCAE
Angela is the current legal director of INCAE business school, a position she has held since 2019. Prior to that, from 2013 up until 2019 she was the regional director...
General counsel | AES Panama
Angelica has been leading the corporate governance and legal strategy of AES PANAMA and its regional headquarter into the energy transition for 4 years now. She is also de Secretary...
Senior legal counsel LADMAR - Panama | Procter & Gamble
Legal manager | Distribuidora de Electricidad del Sur (DELSUR)
Regional general counsel Mexico and Central America | Enel Green Power
Chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary | BAC Credomatic
Daniel is a dynamic legal professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate and financial law, specializing in Central American, Caribbean, and Latin American jurisdictions. As the Chief Legal Officer...
Managing counsel, head of legal operations and projects | Panama Canal Authority
Eduardo has dedicated a large part of his professional career to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), entering as a contracts attorney for the Panama Canal Expansion Program in 2009 –...
Legal and compliance vice-president | Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala a Company of Grupo Bancolombia
Gerente legal | Corporación Multi Inversiones
Senior legal manager - Central America and The Caribbean (VeneCenCa) | Janssen-Cilag Farmacêutica
Regional strategic business partner for general medicines business unit COPAC and territorial legal head for Central America and The Caribbean | Sanofi Aventis de Panamá
Legal director - LATAM | MPC Capital
Gabriela Bergantino is the legal director, Latam at MPC Capital, manager and co-investor for real asset investments focusing on real estate, renewable energy, and shipping. Gabriela manages the renewable energy segment of the business. With...
Chief legal officer | Aeris Holding Costa Rica
Legal regional manger tax controversy | Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica
Senior - International Tax and Transaction Services | EY
Legal director Central America, Carribbean, Argentina and Uruguay | JCDecaux
Head of legal commercial operations Latin America for care enablement | Fresenius Medical Care Panamá
Directora senior de asesoria legal | Copa Airlines
Legal business partner PACA (Central America, Caribbean and Andean region) | Bayer
Senior corporate counsel and deputy manager of commercial and legal department of China Harbour Engineering Company Americas Division, Assistant general counsel of China Harbour Engineering Head Office in Beijing & commercial and legal Department director for the Fourth Bridge Over the Panama Canal Project in Panama. | China Harbour Engineering Company
Chief legal officer | Claro CR Telecomunicaciones
Jenniffer Salazar RamÃrez is the director of the legal department at Claro in Costa Rica. She has over ten years of experience as an in-house lawyer, and three years in...
Legal head, Central America, The Caribbean, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay | Novartis
Senior counsel Middle Americas Zone and Chile | Elanco Animal Health
Executive vice president - chief legal officer and corporate secretary | BLADEX (Banco Latinoamericano De Comercio Exterior)
Jorge Luis Real serves as executive vice president – chief legal officer and corporate secretary. He joined Bladex as vice president, head of legal risk in 2014, was appointed secretary of the...
Ethics and compliance director | PAE Global
General counsel, Central America and Caribbean | Suez
LATAM regional legal affairs manager | Sitel Group
Director legal y gobierno corporativo, representante legal laboral y administrativo | Banco Davivienda Salvadoreño
Legal manager | Banco Azteca
Leading a team of four, Juan Arauz, legal manager at Banco Azteca Panama is responsible for representing the entity before authorities in legal proceedings, staying up to date with regulatory...
Legal and external affairs director and general counsel | Dole Tropical Products Latin America, Standard Fruit Company and Dole Shared Services
Manager of the legal business unit | Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala (Bam)
Director health care and global antitrust | Procter & Gamble
Senior associate counsel Caribbean and Central America | Visa
Julieta graduated from the Universidad Católica Santa MarÃa la Antigua in 2004 with a degree in Law and Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, and with an LLM, with emphasis in...
Senior vice president and general counsel | Citigroup
Julio Arjona is general counsel for Citibank, Panama Branch. He has worked with the bank for 20 years; starting out as legal counsel in the legal department. During his tenure,...
Regional legal counsel for Central America and Caribbean | HP
Legal director In Central America, South and the Carribbean | Grupo Roble
Legal regional director, corporate secretary and deputy CEO Costa Rica | Scotiabank de Costa Rica
Legal vice-president and corporate secretary | Banistmo
Business partner legal | Corporación Multi Inversiones
Legal and corporate affairs manager | Coca-Cola FEMSA
Compliance officer and legal counsel | Centro Distribuidor (CENDIS)
General counsel | Florida Ice & Farm Company (FIFCO)
Managing assistant general counsel Latin America | Cargill
Michelle is a lawyer with more than 25 years of experience with a master’s degree in business administration from the University of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She joined Cargill’s law...
Head of the Nearshore legal team, associate director | Cognizant
Head legal and corporate security, and interim chief ethics and compliance officer | Walmart
Executive vice president legal, chief legal officer and chief compliance officer | Integra Capital Group
Legal and compliance manager | Aeris Holding Costa Rica
Latin America export markets/countries and Americas business service center, legal head | Haleon
Director of legal services | Bolsa Nacional de Valores de Costa Rica
Ricardo oversees the legal department of the National Stock Exchange of Costa Rica. He has also made a valuable contribution to the modernisation and efficiency improvements of financial markets in the country, improving transparency...
Gerente legal regional y de asuntos corporativos | GASPRO
Asesor legal area Centroamérica | Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos DÃas
Legal manager Central America | Transunion
Focus on: My company TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible between businesses and consumers, by ensuring that each consumer is reliably represented in the...
Legal and compliance manager for Central American and the Carribean | Kuehne + Nagel
Legal lead for North Latina America (Central America, Mexico, Caribbean and Venezuela) | Hewlett Packard Enterprise
LatAm area business general counsel - healthcare business group | 3M
Directora legal | Cooperativa de Productores de Leche Dos Pinos
Legal and compliance director CLAT | Novo Nordisk
Silvia joined Novo Nordisk in September 2021 as legal and compliance director for Central America, Caribbean and South America, member of NovoNordisk´s board of directors and part of the management...
Global legal counsel north america and Latam Unilever International | Unilever Central America
Asesor legal | Unity Willis Towers Watson
Tamara currently works as legal leader for Central America for WTW, one of the largest insurance brokers at the regional level, a leading global consulting and solutions company, with a...
Senior legal counsel Central America, Caribbean and Andean Region | Uber
Tamying is a business-focused corporate lawyer with outstanding experience working in large multinational companies with impact across the LATAM region. He has extensive experience as an in-house counsel of several...
Vice president, head of compliance and Data Protection, AMERICAS | DHL Global Forwarding
Legal director Central America, Panama and The Caribbean and Andean Region (ACAC) | Uber
Legal counsel and corporate affairs | Exportadora Atlantic
It was an honour to research The Legal 500 Central America 2023, which much like all other editions features the most impressive in-house counsel all over Central America. Our research covered a wide breadth of countries including Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Interviewed general counsel spoke to us about challenges for modern in-house counsel, business against the arduous economic context and the task of leading growing legal departments which are spearheading change to the legal industry.
‘The demands of companies and business transformations require you, as a lawyer, to have disruptive thinking and challenge the status quo’ says Ingrid Valdes Vazquez, head of legal commercial operations in Latin America, at Fresenius Medical Care. She adds that, ‘For a long time, the legal area was treated as mere advisors, totally removed from the reality of the company, where the decision is taken only by the business. The only way for the legal area to become closer to the business is for them to be heard and the identification and assessment of legal risks to be considered.’
With regards to equipping legal teams with resources to transform archaic perceptions of their department, Javier Madrigal, legal business partner at Bayer says, ‘resource optimisation given the current economic environment is impacting every industry around the world.’ Many counsel agreed with him about what a challenge it has been to meet the frequency of demands for high-level legal support satisfactorily.
Additionally, many general counsel are also seeing their roles move away from the specificity of legal confines to broader responsibilities. ‘I have to use not only legal technical skills but also other kind of competencies as managing different projects, coordination with other departments, set up a clear way to communicate risk and achievements during the process, all of that while maintaining the day-to-day duties attended’, comments Jorge Eduardo Moreno Pena, senior legal counsel at Elanco Animal Health.
The consensus across Central America was that most general counsel’s responsibilities span across different countries in Latin America. This has posed a tricky ordeal when managing several jurisdictional operational requirements. ‘Geographically understanding the needs and particularities of each area is a continuous task and can only be achieved by truly approaching each of the people who are part of your business from a human and personal perspective.’ Much like everywhere else, general counsel report an increase in the adoption of technology as well. Monica Jose Polanco Aguilar, head of the nearshore legal team muses, ‘Certainly, the post-pandemic work environment and the new era of digitalisation, remote culture and demanding deadlines can bring interesting challenges for legal leaders.’
As much change is on the horizon for countries all across Central America, general counsel are more than ever prioritising being read into major decisions in the business. For some, taking steps to be closer to their business colleagues is the order of the day, while others move up the ranks and partner with decision makers at a seat at the table.
I would like to thank and congratulate all lawyers who engaged with us for this edition of The Legal 500 Central America 2023. You join an esteemed group of counsel around the globe in holding this recognition.
Melissa Yebisi| Lead researcher: GC Powerlist Central America 2023Â
The inaugural issue of the GC Powerlist: Central America 2023 was launched at the breathtaking grounds of Club Union, Panama on the 25th of April. In attendance were the most illustrious general counsel who flew in from all over Central America to celebrate their achievement, enjoy live music and network with peers. The event was opened by Global Business Development Manager, David Freeman, who congratulated all successful general counsel on behalf of The Legal 500. Attendees also heard a few words from publication sponsor, Arias, represented by Siaska SSS Lorenzo, managing partner of Arias Panama. Attendees were then called upon by research editor at The Legal 500, Melissa Yebisi, to receive certificates and have official photos taken.  A huge thank you to Arias, for their long-term sponsorship of the GC Powerlist Central America publication.
