Portugal-based Vanessa Santos has been the head of legal for MetLife Portugal since 2012, advising the multinational insurance company with the provision of what she calls effective legal advice ‘in relation to legal frameworks across the globe’. Proving her value and recognition within the group, Santos explains how, in late 2016, she was selected for an open position in the global legal and regulatory coordination unit of GenCorp (General Corporate) within the company’s US law department.

She notes how the company ‘allowed an associate to work out of a MetLife office in EMEA and still be a part of the US global team’ in a position requiring work on various legal and regulatory issues that have a global impact on MetLife, with a significant focus on international privacy issues. After a year in this position, the results were ‘excellent and more non-US associates are being considered to US/global positions’, showing how her pioneering work proved to be a game changer in terms of global mind-set and cultural fluency for the law department in the US. A firm believer in the fluidity of the role of corporate lawyers, Ramos explains how she feels the legal profession is ‘not necessarily tied in to the jurisdiction where you graduated or have been admitted to the Bar Association.

There are fields in the law, such as international privacy that is now my main area of practice, where one can be a global lawyer’. With a focus on GDPR, Santos recognises the importance of cutting-edge issues and the challenges they bring to her organisation, making MetLife’s business in Portugal and its home territory more secure and able to achieve its strategic aims.