Unleashing talent – highlights from The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America

As Latin America increasingly becomes a global economic force, the role of the in-house lawyer in the region has evolved to produce some of the most impressive names in the legal industry.

Below are selected highlights taken from the debut edition of The Legal 500’s Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America, which identifies an array of the region’s most influential in-house counsel.

Michelle Beckers, managing counsel (international) Rimini Street

Beckers joined independent enterprise software support and maintenance provider Rimini Street as corporate counsel in 2011, after several years in private practice, and rose rapidly to senior corporate counsel before being appointed managing counsel in 2013. Despite her relative youth, law firms highlight ‘an outstanding professional’ with a ‘truly strategic legal vision of the Latin American region’. One senior partner says, ‘after many decades in legal practice, and having had a close interface with GCs, well, let’s just say she’s way above the average’. On external counsel, Beckers is very clear: ‘The best firms in Latin America function as our eyes and ears, as well as our conscience, in understanding the application of local law and sensitivities of local culture and custom.’ She says it is ‘practical advice from outside counsel in Latin America that we really value’.

Emilio F Gnecco, director and chief legal officer Adecoagro

Director and chief legal officer for Adecoagro’s Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay operations, Gnecco has been a member of the company’s senior management since 2005. Formerly in private practice at Marval O’Farrell & Mairal, he is ‘one of the best young lawyers I’ve encountered in the last ten or 15 years’, according to one former private practice colleague. His handling, in the midst of the financial crisis, of the company’s 2011 IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (the last by an Argentine entity), raised $314m and was ‘masterfully managed’, according to sources familiar with the listing.

Carlos Rafael González, vice president and chief M&A counsel Prudential

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, González had an impressive private practice career, first at White & Case and subsequently at Debevoise & Plimpton. He has risen through the ranks at Prudential, a company that has opted to retain its legal corporate transactional and financing capacity in-house. Insiders identify him as ‘deeply impressive’ and ‘a hard-charging deals guy’ who, still only in his early 40s, ‘has excelled throughout his career’. Advising on all transactional matters, his brief also covers the company’s strategic initiatives across annuities, retirement services and asset management.

David Handelsmann, general counsel Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets

General counsel (GC) of the Latin American operations of the Macquarie Group’s alternative asset management business, Australian Handelsmann is ‘a dealmaker in every sense of the term’. Commentators note he has a ‘rare talent for absorbing legal and industry knowledge and putting it into practice’, and also applaud an ‘impressive combination of legal judgement and business acumen’. This was demonstrated most recently with his establishment of Macquarie’s Mexican real estate investment trust, an ‘extraordinarily complex project’ involving the setting up of the fund itself, the negotiation and acquisition of two portfolios of real estate assets (totalling 244 industrial real estate properties in 21 cities across 15 Mexican states), three portfolio-level real estate debt financings, one fund-level debt facility and the subsequent Mexican IPO, which raised approximately $1bn of equity and $1bn of debt.

Carlos Henao, general counsel Grupo Éxito

‘Intelligent and a great team player’, Henao is GC of Colombia’s largest retail group and since his arrival, has overhauled the entire legal department. Not only has this facilitated greater control and efficiency but it was achieved without additional expense to the company. Externally, he has led on significant matters such as the legal co-ordination of a $1.4bn share offer and the subsequent $750m acquisition of Uruguay’s leading retail chain in what constitutes the company’s first step towards regional expansion. One private practice partner notes: ‘It’s a pleasure to work with Carlos. He’s a very “executive” person and he maintains very good relations with external counsel: he gives us the freedom to work, but is always up-to-speed with what really matters and is always on hand to give an answer.’

Joe Hill, head of legal and compliance (Latin America) BlackRock

Hill has had an impressive trajectory. Having served as GC for Latin America at both JPMorgan and MetLife, he has been involved in hugely significant matters, such as MetLife’s $16.2bn multijurisdictional acquisition of American Life Insurance Company from AIG in 2010, and the largest and most complex litigation dispute ever faced by JPMorgan in Latin America, following the failure of Uruguay’s leading bank. Today ‘the face of BlackRock in all of its Latin American strategy’, US-born Hill also worked at Mayer Brown and Uría Menéndez, and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. ‘A true team builder, he can bring on board big names and have them work effectively together, and he has both local and linguistic cultural skills,’ says Ferrere’s managing partner, Andrés Cerisola. ‘All in all, a range of talents that one does not always find in high-level corporate counsel and less still in the banking and finance sector’.

Daniel Mora, senior legal counsel (Venezuela) Level 3 Communications

‘Dynamic and capable’ and with ‘an extensive knowledge of telecommunications’, Mora worked at Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela (Cantv), before moving to Global Crossing (today Level 3 Communications) in 2010. Since his arrival, he has restructured the legal department, facilitating operation in ‘a highly challenging business market’. ‘Practical and very straightforward in his manner’, Mora regards the role of the in-house counsel in volatile markets such as Venezuela as requiring business vision that goes above and beyond cornerstone legal advice, and which can accommodate innovation, creativity and assertiveness in decision-making.

José Augusto Palma, senior counsel and vice presidentHochschild Mining

‘One of the top international attorneys of Latin American origin’, Peruvian national Palma joined Hochschild Mining (which has operations in Peru, Argentina and Chile) in 2006 and became the company’s GC and vice president for corporate affairs in 2008. Managing a 15-strong team, insiders credit him with ‘having very much overseen the growth of the company’ since its 2006 IPO on the London Stock Exchange, the first by a Latin American company in a century. He recently advised on a $350m bond issue for the expansion of its Peruvian and Chilean operations early this year. As one admirer notes: ‘Working with José Augusto is always a collegial experience in which outside counsel contributes to implementing his ideas and you feel at all times that he is part of the team.’

Ana Carina Turco Grecco, head of legal Molinos Rio de la Plata

‘An excellent in-house lawyer who focuses rapidly on the key issues and is always an aid to her external counsel’, Turco is head of legal at Argentina’s largest branded food products company and, having joined the company in 2000 as head of corporate matters, she has had to manage considerable transactional activity over the course of the last decade. One Uruguayan admirer comments: ‘She’s an outstanding professional with a great ability to reach the best possible outcome for her client.’ An Argentine commentator notes: ‘She is extraordinary; she knows her company inside-out and is very intelligent in her analysis and explanation of issues.’ A board member since 2012, she has also had responsibility for compliance matters, reporting directly to the chief executive.

Guillermo Ucha, general counsel (Argentina) Citibank

Once considered among the top three Argentine lawyers under 45 by Argentine news service Infobae, Ucha has more than lived up to his billing. Formerly a partner at Estudio Beccar Varela, he left the firm to join Citibank in 2004, gradually establishing himself as ‘an undoubted reference point in the banking industry’. An Argentine peer states simply: ‘He’s the best banking lawyer working in-house by far; he’s in another league. Why is he so good? Well, he’s very sophisticated in his grasp of matters, has a very international perspective, but is also very calm; he looks at the angles, takes a decision and executes it. Great delivery, but he also knows when to stop and reflect. There’s no one comparable, really.’ LB

The Legal 500 would like to thank Debevoise & Plimpton for its sponsorship of the Corporate Counsel 100: Latin America. For more information on the publication e-mail: tim.girven@legal500.com