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The head of the legal department is David Estuardo Portilla Rivera who leads the team and determines the legal strategy to follow and meet the organisation’s goals and plans. He also oversees and follows all administrative, operational and case matters under the scope of the legal department. Portilla Rivera is the leader of the team which is in charge of both the corporate matters (back office, including legal aspects of all branches) as well as of all legal matters related with the operations of the organisation in all its business sites. Portilla Rivera reports directly to the general manager. The legal department currently consists of the head counsel and three legal deputies who are lawyers, each one is in charge of the following areas: corporate issues, operational issues and attention to official requests. The team is completed by a group of five legal analysts and one person in charge of the administrative matters of the department.
In the last two years, one of the most important implementation processes in which the legal department has been involved, is the creation of the attention to official requests unit. The challenge involved in this task was mostly designing a swift and fast procedure for timely and accurate answers for such official requests, meeting also the formal requisites imposed by the authorities. Additionally, we have been involved in the analysis of and advising on the introduction of new products.
In addition to our technical and professional skills we have discovered that ‘soft skills’ have allowed us to become a ‘business partner’ and be able to accompany all processes from beginning to end. We most value team work, flexibility, creativity and capability to adapt to ever changing circumstances and our aim of providing solutions to complex problems. For an in-house legal counsel, it is very important to be the leader of one’s team, be able to manage time wisely and work with special attention to detail. But most of all, he or she must hold and set the standard for working ethically whic evidences integrity, accountability, responsibility and discipline.
Regarding new laws, we can comment that recently the Constitutional Court has ruled that the procedure established in the Fiscal Code for the Guatemalan Fiscal Authority (SAT) to request information from banks regarding accounts and monies deposited there and the amendment to the confidentiality obligation contained in the banking and financial groups law, which represents an important task to meet. The regulation has made us review and adjust internal procedures to answer and provide information that is requested in the most expeditious way possible.
Among the possible topics I considered addressing for this thought piece were the proposed legislation regarding credit cards which has once been constitutionally challenged. A new initiative is being discussed and has been of special interest to the Guatemalan banking sector due to the fact that the interest rates to be charged were limited. The first law halted operations in the credit card sector and generated social turmoil. I also thought about writing about the challenges that technological advances present to the Guatemalan banking legal framework as well as the effective introduction of electronic signatures and financial and banking services, which is a very trending topic nowadays. However, after giving the goal at hand a second thought, I decided to share my very own experience as the leader of the legal team in the company and creating and implementing this team. I think it is important to also share the challenges and stakes this project has represented for me. The team I currently lead has evolved based on the business needs and the headships were created and designed to be a business partner and provide effective legal advice to the company. We take care of different internal clients due to the fact that we operate in several markets and cover many products. Therefore, we designed a unit dedicated exclusively to taking care of all corporate matters and documents and agreements to be executed with third parties and within the group. Afterwards it became necessary to establish an operational division in charge of taking care of lawsuits, focused on reducing risks and on a case by case basis reduce legal contingencies, with an aim to obtain favourable rulings with minimum losses to the company. Finally, we noticed the need to appoint a unit in charge of addressing official requests and communicating with them. Not taking care of such requests or not doing so in a timely and orderly formal fashion, might represent a sanction for the company. That is why the current leadership designed a programme for taking care of official requests. It is an example of efficient procedures in action. This growth has been in response to the needs and objectives of our business aiming always to provide high quality services and great service standards. It hasn’t been easy, picking the right personnel for the tasks at hand as well as constantly training and updating them, providing a good working ambiance to carry out the assigned duties. A functional labour environment that allows personal growth and professional development for the team is a constant inspiration for me. Designing procedures that efficiently take care of internal and external requests, along with creating the mechanisms to effectively get the job done has been a challenging but very rewarding endeavour. With all lessons learned by being the leader of the legal team and having the incomparable honour and opportunity of creating it from scratch, the key has been being able to be a leader to my team. Reflecting confidence, knowledge and proficiency has provided all our members an opportunity to flourish in their own careers and become the best in their own fields. This has also allowed all of us to provide great and trustworthy legal services to the organisation as well as to our clients.
