An interview with Ruben Camarillo, Head of Legal at Grupo Innovasport in Mexico.
What are the biggest external forces or trends currently shaping your role as General Counsel and how are you responding to them?
The group’s internationalisation.
Innovasport group is currently exploring opportunities to expand into the United States and other countries with brand new B&M stores, different ecommerce operations and by acquiring ownership interests in several companies in the industry.
While the retail industry may be pretty similar across countries, the culture, legal systems, markets and needs can vary significantly from one region to another.
As Legal Head, my role is to oversee and support the business from a global and international legal perspective.
Our operations are not limited to a specific territory. They may involve (i.e.) deals in Spain or Canada; obtaining financing from US entities, or any other possible transaction involving different legal systems or jurisdictions to the equation.
We continuously address this from implementing and enabling technological tools, such as IA and software platforms, to collaborating with big legal powerhouses across different jurisdictions such as McDermott Will & Emery (corporate and tax matters), Skadden (M&A operations), Arnall Golden Gregory (real estate transactions), Seyfarth Shaw (labour matters), Baker McKenzie (privacy compliance), etc.
How are you balancing the increasing demands of legal risk management with the expectation to drive business value and strategic insight?
Something I consistently try to instill in my team is the mindset that we are a business-support department.
It’s important to understand that legal work or deliverables may not always be perfect or ideal, but we must always prioritise the speed and momentum of the business and the pursuit of opportunities.
By nature, legal departments are often seen as “business stoppers” by other departments.
I’ve frequently encountered situations where other departments are hesitant or afraid to approach Legal fearing that their initiatives might be delayed or blocked once Legal participates.
Therefore, we constantly seek to become strategic players for the company’s commercial and business departments, always looking for the most efficient legal way to bring proposed projects to life.
Our role as Legal is to push business projects and operation forward, while protecting the company’s interests as much as possible along the way, without stopping its momentum.
What’s one lesson or insight from your in-house journey that you wish you’d known earlier and would share with a fellow GC today?
As lawyers, we naturally tend to see ourselves as very “legalists” above anything else.
Over time, I’ve learned that in-house counsel need to shift their mindset, from thinking of themselves primarily as lawyers, to viewing themselves as professionals of the industry they represent (retail in our case), but with legal knowledge.
This mindset naturally leads us to prioritise the business and its growth first, and then bring in our legal expertise to protect the company’s interests and add value effectively.
As the business grows, we contribute to it, we protect it, and consequently we grow together with it.
