About

Virgilio Junior Diaz Mendoza started his legal career as honorary legal assistant at the Superior Court of the Bogotá Judicial District Labor Court. In December 2004, Diaz Mendoza made his move in-house and joined Siemens Colombia to work initially as junior legal counsel and subsequently as regional human resource coordinator. In 2008 Diaz Mendoza moved back to the public sector to work as a lawyer in the contracting group of the Bogotá City Secretary of Government. After a little over a year in the role, Diaz Mendoza returned to Siemens to work as legal counsel. He is responsible for the legal function in Venezuela and works as senior lawyer responsible for several business functions in Colombia. Before taking over key responsibilities for legal at Siemens in Colombia, Diaz Mendoza’s ‘front office’ colleagues working for the Process Industries & Drives (PD), Digital Factory (DF) and Mobility (MO) divisions had a distant relationship with the lawyers. ‘When I started to work with business colleagues back in 2010 I noticed this situation and I considered that it was bad for managing the legal risks of the business and also for the quality of the legal service. Therefore, I made the personal decision of acting as a true business partner by showing a real interest in learning and knowing about the business and the technology and being actively involved in different kind of business and commercial meetings’. As a result of Diaz Mendoza’s work, the company has fewer disputes with its clients and suppliers and spends less on external advisors than in the past.