“We must overcome the idea that the legal function is a silo; “It is not a closed area, because you have to have very transversal knowledge.”

2023-12-11 06:21:51

Pedro Regojo Balboa participated as a speaker at the retail sector table at the Aranzadi Congress of Lawyers in House, held at the ICADE headquarters on November 16 and 17. He was a partner at Garrigues and responsible for the office in A Coruña since 2015, for ten years he held the position of Secretary of the Board of Estrella Galicia. Pedro Regojo Balboa has joined the Corporación de Hijos de Rivera company as General Secretary, with full dedication.

Is the role of the lawyer becoming more and more relevant? in house in the companies in the companies?

If I am where I am, it is because someone understood that the field of legal function and governance is relevant. I was a partner at Garrigues and the company wanted to boost the institutional muscle and commitment of the business strategy in a changing and uncertain context. What we have to do now is the challenge of the commitment of the legal function and participation in the executive committee, very close to the management teams. Our function is very transversal, we not only respond in a specific way to legal issues. This is overcome in the integration into internal processes. The legal function is not only the legal function, but the normative commitment that has a very broad framework.

What is the relationship of the lawyers in house with external lawyers?

Garrigues has given me everything, I have made a living selling legal services and now, from the other side of the table, we are beginning to understand how legal services are purchased. Selling legal services is not the same as buying them.

The pillars of this relationship would be: independence criteria; relationship based on trust and an effort on the part of the organizations to understand very well what you need; permanent collaboration with law firms, collaboration frameworks, to learn from each other… The in-house lawyer knows a lot about his sector, we are very specialized. It is a reciprocal learning.

How do you see the lawyers In house in the future

The glass balls, thank God, have all broken. We must interpret certain signs that help us make decisions in the present and make it easier for things to evolve appropriately. There are three keys. On the one hand, the legal function is not a silo, it is not a closed area. We must overcome this idea because we must have very transversal knowledge. The back office, supervisory functions and business leaders must have areas of dialogue. On the other hand, the process vision, since the comprehensive models that support decisions and business models have to integrate the groups and areas in decision-making. You can and want to make the decision. In First there is the ignition process, let’s do this. Then there are the more technical areas, where we are, that say if this can be done. And, finally, the executive function that decides if it is appropriate and appropriate. Legal services cannot be the last to know about decisions. The third and final key is to automate the legal administration of companies’ legal offices. AIs and other legal consulting processes. Efficient legal management from digitalization, and the healthy, serene and safe incorporation of AI. We are the guardians of legal security and criteria, but we must automate documentation, document integrity, administrative processes, contractual processes, privacy. We need lawyers, engineers-engineers, digital and modern lawyers. We must let young people come and help us push forward.

What would you highlight about Aranzadi In House Congress, in which he participated as a speaker?

The idea of ​​proposing a forum where lawyers meet in house It’s very interesting. I would consider addressing the deontological issue of in-house counsel in the future. And, in conclusion, I am left with the impulse of PAR, torque, cited by Julio Lage at the opening of the congress, from a business vision, of protection, anticipation and resolution. Our president is a great evangelizer of this idea: we do not want to be the best-selling beer, but rather the most loved. We dream of the idea of ​​giving a message of authenticity, trust and commitment to quality and truth.