What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

LUMA Energy is the private operator of Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution system. Our in-house legal team manages a litigation portfolio that includes both administrative and judicial cases, ranging from bill objections to class action lawsuits. We also handle nearly all legal consultations that arise from day-to-day operations, including matters related to employment, operations, contracting, and more.

Each case and consultation has an impact on our clients and is therefore significant. However, I would highlight consultations related to customer-facing processes, particularly those involving billing and collections. We approach these issues from a functional perspective, always putting the client first. Our goal is to provide legal solutions that are practical, fair, and efficient.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organization’s resilience?  

You can’t always anticipate a specific period of instability or crisis, but you can anticipate that, at some point, your company will face significant hardship. Because of this, it is important to have a system in place to manage your team, collaborate with other departments, and provide legal advice aimed at resolving any unexpected challenges.

This preparation must be intentional—through periodic meetings, fostering dialogue within your team, keeping them informed of major legal issues affecting the company, and maintaining a close relationship with internal clients.

When providing legal advice during a period of instability or crisis, you can never assume facts; they must always be corroborated before suggesting a legal strategy. You must also anticipate the practical consequences of the proposed legal approach.

Finally, any decision should only be made after achieving internal alignment across all stakeholders.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?  

After Hurricane María, I was involved in a high volume of first-party insurance cases that raised multiple novel issues regarding insurance law in our jurisdiction. As an in-house trial lawyer for a major insurance carrier, I was responsible for commercial claims litigation. These cases not only generated extensive discovery but also led to numerous appeals on various legal issues, some of which reached the Puerto Rico Supreme Court—resulting in new jurisprudence in an area of law rarely addressed by the Court.

I handled the first condominium case that proceeded to trial and resulted in a final judgment, which was favorable to our client. This experience reinforced in me the importance of meticulous preparation, foresight, and strategic thinking when managing litigation matters from inception to resolution.

How does your team contribute to the overall business strategy of the company? Can you share an example of a recent legal-led initiative that had a significant impact? 

My team has visibility into a wide range of company projects. As such, we envision our role as twofold: not only providing legal advice and representation, but also identifying and mitigating risks, and proposing alternatives to maximize cross-departmental efficiency.

We recently launched Cross-Department Connect, an initiative aimed at holding structured meetings with other department leaders and individual contributors to discuss pending issues, identified risks, upcoming projects, and other matters of shared interest.