Legal team size: Three

What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?

In the last 12 months we have promoted actions on several fronts both in Paraguay and Uruguay. We have developed and approved corporately several processes/policies necessary to prevent contingencies in the area of hiring foreign third parties, internal procedures to safeguard the evidentiary aspect in possible labour disputes, among others.

From the operational point of view, we have developed the Legal Operation Manual that include from legal procedures to contract templates, clauses and antecedents with their internal resolution casuistry, and we have also written the governance of the procedure of accounting provisions for litigious cases.

We have been the driving force behind the implementation of electronic signatures for contracts, safeguarding the legal security of transactions through a process of registering the email addresses of our counterparties.

We have also achieved significant savings in legal fees. The latter through the effective relationship with legal providers based on a good relationship with each and every one of them.

In the corporate area, we have led a corporate reorganisation operation covering both legal and regulatory aspects.

We also worked on the review and relaunch of the main contracts in which the core business is based.

Finally, as regards litigation, we have been actively involved both in the legal analysis and in the procedural and evidentiary strategy of the litigious cases.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world, specific to Paraguay, that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

It is becoming increasingly important for the in-house lawyer to be the main promoter of technological tools for the management of legal matters. Starting with contract management systems (CLM), through the automation of responses to similar cases, and AI and others.

The trends for in-house Paraguayans should be directed to implement Legal Ops processes, determine KPIs to their deliverables, continue being business partners through a deep knowledge of the business of the companies and the law and regulation applicable to such business.

Equally important is to know the capabilities of colleagues from other countries (in case of the ones working in multinationals) that can help solve specific issues, and of course, colleagues who are part of law firms on whom to rely on when faced with the demand of specific situations.

What are some key attributes every in-house lawyer should possess?

An in-depth knowledge of the business combined with a strong legal background. In addition to this, they must be informed of trends in the areas that they advise on, and display excellent internal and external relationships with colleagues, law firms and government agencies. They must also be able to lead the implementation of processes and policies, leading multidisciplinary teamsin the process