Advisor to the Presidency at PETROPAR | Petróleos Paraguayos (PETROPAR)
Iván Mauricio Filártiga Cantero
Advisor to the Presidency at PETROPAR | Petróleos Paraguayos (PETROPAR)
Legal team size: 17
What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?
In 2024, I had the opportunity to work, representing PETROPAR, on the regulation of Law No. 6977/23 ‘Que regula el fomento, generación, producción, desarrollo y la utilización de energía eléctrica a partir de fuentes de energía renovables no convencionales no hidráulicas’ (‘Which Regulates the Promotion, Generation, Production, Development, and Use of Electric Energy from Non-Conventional Non-Hydraulic Renewable Energy Sources’), which was formalised through Decree No. 1168/2024.
Additionally, as former Legal Director of the company (2021–2023), one of the most recurring issues in contract execution with the company’s suppliers was the invocation of force majeure. Suppliers often used this to justify delays in fulfilling their obligations or to exempt themselves from liability in cases of definitive non-compliance with contractual duties.
In response to this recurring challenge, raised on numerous occasions by various State suppliers, I proposed a basic test to serve as a standardised framework for analysing claims of force majeure. This test was presented in an article I authored, published by the Paraguayan legal publisher La Ley Paraguaya, which received notable attention among lawyers specialising in public procurement, as reflected in the many comments and opinions I received following its publication.
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?
I firmly believe that in-house legal departments should adopt a more participatory approach across all areas of the companies they advise. Preventive legal counsel, along with a solid compliance framework, enables companies to safeguard various aspects, whether reputational or financial. An in-house lawyer should have first-hand knowledge of the company’s overall operations and should not confine themselves solely to strictly legal matters.
What are some key attributes every in-house lawyer should possess?
A few months ago, I published an article in which I set out, from my humble point of view, how in-house legal departments should be oriented. In that article, I argued that an in-house lawyer must understand their company’s mission and vision and, above all, be able to communicate them effectively to the various stakeholders. In this role, beyond having a thorough knowledge of the matters under their consideration, soft skills play a decisive role. The way in which a dispute, negotiation or agreement is approached has a direct impact on the quality and outcome of the service provided.