Editor’s note: In August 2022 Rodrigo Schele Velasco moved to Terumo Latin America Corporation.

Focus on in-house counsel and health companies

It is increasingly common for companies linked to the health sector to incorporate a full-time lawyer as an active team member. The in-house counsel role requires effective communication, leadership skills, organisation, easy adaptation to new challenges and the ability to prevent contingencies in a company and improve productivity.

The internal lawyer must dedicate all his time to getting to know and understand the operations and core business of the company, maintaining direct links with all the departments and other workers, both at a vertical and horizontal level. Being creative and agile in the way of thinking is necessary to find quick solutions to step out of the comfort zone and contribute to projects that go beyond legal.

In a sector as regulated and changing as the health sector, it is essential to have a specialised legal department that provides quality service to all departments of the company. Legal advice must be in line with general legal regulations and specific legislation that govern the activity.

To be an in-house counsel in a health company, you must be an off-road lawyer, being able to work in different areas of law that directly or indirectly affect the company. The internal counsel of a health company must know how the legal issues of the sector are developed to provide sound advice and good service within the company. A sector that, in addition to being highly regulated and raising overly complex legal issues and problems, is ever-changing and evolves rapidly, so having a thorough knowledge of the industry and current legal regulations will allow quality advice to be given, preventing potential problems or conflicts and contribute to the company obtaining better results and higher profits.

Finally, an excellent in-house counsel must recognise that they cannot do everything alone and must rely on external colleagues to resolve doubts. They must know how to choose their external law firms. The latter must understand the company’s philosophy to adapt to it and provide and contribute to its goals.