Emiliana Villa Mejía – GC Powerlist
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Colombia 2022

Transport and infrastructure

Emiliana Villa Mejía

Legal director | Airplan

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Colombia 2022

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Emiliana Villa Mejía

Legal director | Airplan

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The pandemic led us to solve many contractual problems that did not have a specific regulation, neither in the contracts nor in the current regulations, since it was an unprecedented event which dramatically affected the aeronautical and airport industry and all entrepreneurs with businesses related to these industries. The main challenge consisted of proposing tailored solutions for each case, seeking to protect the interests of both parties as far as possible. This required legal creativity, common sense, solidarity and a long-term vision because not all those affected were in similar conditions.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic has allowed us to see that all possibilities must be considered, and the distribution of risks is a significant chapter of contractual relationships. Likewise, it has allowed us to see that not everything is solved through regulations since they are human-made, and it is not possible that they regulate all the hypotheses that we can face in the reality of business. Additionally, the pandemic has allowed us to remember that the sense of humanity is not alien to legal relations and that solidarity is also an essential element when you face situations whose occurrence seemed impossible.

What can law firms do to improve their service to the legal department?

Firms, while helping us to deepen the analysis of problems and find creative and scalable solutions, should help us generate best practices so that an issue becomes a learning engine for the organisation. Based on a case, I highly value the firms that develop not only a specific solution but also provide the client with a preventive and pedagogical policy that allows the company to prevent the same mistake from recurring. Likewise, I value firms that, as an added value, inform their clients about legislative developments, even more so when they do it using non-complex terminology that only lawyers generally understand.

Emiliana Villa Mejia - Colombia 2016

Lawyer and General Secretary | Airplan

Airplan is a Colombian manager and operator of six major airports in North Central Colombia. At the helm of the company’s legal department is general secretary Emiliana Villa Mejia, who...

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