Paloma Fernández-Montes Moraleda – GC Powerlist
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Iberia 2018

Industrials and real estate

Paloma Fernández-Montes Moraleda

Senior legal advisor - interim head of legal | 3M Iberia

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Iberia 2018

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Paloma Fernández-Montes Moraleda

Senior legal advisor - interim head of legal | 3M Iberia

About

On the back of an extremely successful private practice career, including being part of the team in charge of opening Gómez-Acebo & Pombo’s brand-new New York office in 2012 (described as ‘a lifetime experience and an unparalleled opportunity to grow exponentially’), Paloma Fernández-Montes Moraleda ‘decided it was time to start a new adventure to become an in-house lawyer’ in 2014 when she initially began working at 3M.

She embedded herself in the values of the company straight away, and explains that the company’s principled business practices are at the heart of its strategy: ‘3M prides itself on being one of the most ethical companies in the world to do business with, and so it is very strict in complying with laws and regulations. At the same time, all departments must be business-focused and customer-oriented’. She recounts an encounter from the start of her employment with the company that informed her business-centric approach to legal work: ‘I was discussing why negotiations with a potential purchaser were placed on hold with a procurement officer, who said they had received a ten-page confidentiality agreement from the legal team which their team did not understand. This conversation opened my eyes regarding speaking other business units’ language. I realised they needed someone who they trusted to help them conduct business, someone who understood their needs and helped them meet these within the applicable regulation’.

By all accounts, she has put this to good use with the company, culminating in her being chosen as acting head of legal for 3M Iberia in October 2017. She places this experience as a career highlight, marking the apex of her influence on the legal function at 3M. However, she has been at the forefront of the optimisation of the legal team at the company throughout her tenure. ‘During my time working at 3M, I have managed to change the legal department’s culture, perception and effectiveness via the implementation of a more efficient use of external resources, reducing turnaround time and improving the quality of responses, and developing the status of the team as a partner to the business’, she outlines. Currently in charge of a number of strategic projects for the company, including managing GDPR roll-out for the Iberian portion of 3M, Fernández-Montes already has a formidable set of career achievements, and looks set to continue this enviable record of success into the future.

 

 

 

 

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