Team size: Four

How has your role as in-house counsel evolved over the past few years, particularly in response to shifting global or regional dynamics?

My role has evolved alongside the transformation of our company, from a traditional real estate developer to a diversified portfolio company including premium office spaces, retail centers, and lately, hotels. This shift required expanding my legal expertise from conventional land transactions and commercial leases to complex structures involving various types of financial loans, designed to ensure that the company’s cash flows, debt obligations, and investment strategies are aligned with our pipeline, that is constantly evolving.

To support our vision of building a more connected and sustainable urban ecosystem (we have hotels, retail, and premium offices), we developed a digital community platform that facilitates access to our clusters and services across our portfolio. This initiative not only enhances the user experience but also contributes to the revitalisation of the urban areas where we operate, making sustainability part of our business model. As legal counsel, I help ensure these innovations are fully compliant, protect our interests, and align with our company’s values.

How do you build and maintain strong relationships with key internal stakeholders, especially in high-pressure or fast-moving scenarios?

I focus on building trust through transparent, solution-oriented communication and a strong understanding of each internal stakeholder’s objectives. By aligning legal advice with commercial strategy and being available during critical moments, I created a support system that delivers value beyond legal compliance. In our organisation, particularly with our hospitality division, that has recently been integrated into our portfolio (where many stakeholders are not based at our main offices, and are even outside Lima), we are taking an extra step. When a situation calls for it, I meet them in person to strengthen trust and ensure alignment. Additionally, my team is trained to anticipate risks and provide guidance before issues escalate, which is essential in fast-paced environments like hotel operations.

What do you consider the biggest challenge for in-house legal teams today, and how are you addressing it within your own team?

The biggest challenge we face today is overregulation. In Peru, there are often multiple overlapping legal requirements across different sectors, and not all regulations are centralised or consistent, especially when operating in regions outside of Lima (our Hotels). In provinces, local laws can differ substantially, which adds complexity to our projects and demands a very localised, practical legal perspective. To address this, my team and I focus on prioritisation.

We can’t respond to every legal requirement with the same intensity, so we train ourselves to quickly identify which risks have the greatest operational, reputational and financial impacts, to allocate resources more effectively, avoid unnecessary delays, and support the business in a pragmatic and strategic way. This mindset helps us remain agile and aligned with the day-to-day business.