Team size: Eight
Major legal advisers: Uría Menéndez, Montero Aramburu

What are the most significant cases or transactions you and your team have been involved in?

I am currently responsible for leading north-western and southern Europe and additionally the chief of staff for the legal department at global level. My previous role evolved around Latin America and southern Europe. The most challenging context I had to deal with in 2021, was in Latin America. We had lots of employees and subcontractors, and the law that entered into force prohibited in Mexico (or limited in certain situations), the subcontracting and outsourcing of services in other companies. I was the legal lead, and for about six months I was also responsible for project management, to take appropriate action and decide how to best handle the situation and the subcontractors we had in Mexico; especially considering they were providing services to many other countries as well. It entailed merging entities and bringing in-house some of the subcontractors in multiple instances.     

Since I took over the role of chief of staff, there have been many other projects involving diversity and inclusion and related matters supporting our general counsel. I’ve also been involved in the legal technology roadmap of our business, looking at how to automate and monetise business processes in legal. There is a focus on contract lifecycle management, where we are planning to set up a tool that manages contracts from bid to termination.

What technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

Artificial intelligence for sure, as we are on the hunt for smart tools to get rid of more administrative work like contract lifecycle management. In big businesses, there are many siloes and going through the processes with different units is tedious. It would be very helpful to have a tool that helps with a single source of entry for everything customer related. The collection of data will also help with aiding a better allocation of resources and demonstrate to the business our value, as an in-house department.  

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

To establish this, you need to change your mindset. At this stage of my career, I think of myself as a businessperson with a legal background. This helps you see risks out of a legal perspective or, to better put, to assess legal risk with a business mindset. In many instances, at this stage in my career, I know that my role is not only to assess the risks so the business can take informed decisions but, I need to get involved in the decision making as well recommending a decision based on the risks. It means going a step – or a few steps! – beyond your in-house counsel role. To reach that level, lawyers should attend business meetings and stay even if discussions are not legal to obtain as much business acumen as possible.