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Interview with Juan Antonio Castro

I am the General Counsel at InterCorp Group and InterCorp International Services, the Peruvian business conglomerate covering education, healthcare, financial services and pharmaceuticals.

Following an LLM in the USA, and working as a Fulbright Scholar, I moved to a law firm in Washington DC, before returning to Peru to work for the then Prime Minister and finally joining InterCorp as its Legal Director in 2004.

The legal function in a company is liquid because it reaches all areas of the business. GCs are expected to add value to a company by allowing things to happen and the business to run in a compliant way. They are expected to be trusted. They are expected to be respected.

In the 1990s, few GCs wanted their team to resolve legal issues facing their organisations. My experience with GCs back then was that they instructed external counsel on most matters, so that they had backup from the law firm, and didn’t take responsibility for the legal issues they faced. Nowadays, I believe that the importance of the GC has increased. The GC is a person that is expected to be a part of the company to contribute, not only as a legal leader, but also as a trusted adviser to the other lines of the business.

The role of the GC has become more relevant to the company in the last 15 or 20 years. We are expected to know about the business so that we can contribute not only to the legal side but also advise on commercial and regulatory aspects, as well as to both overall strategy and planning. But you never forget that you’re a lawyer. And you never forget what your responsibilities are.

My team is a ‘conglomerate’, in our group each sub- company has absolute autonomy. I report to InterCorp’s CEO and its chairman and focus on the M&A practice. For example, we acquired a company last year and they continue to operate their own legal team. The difference is that their GC reports to me in relation to corporate issues but they manage the day-to-day themselves.

Earn your square metre in life. Work hard. Try to understand and try to gain experience in more than one practice area. Once you feel that you are fully trained, then consider moving to a company.

I was at a meeting once and I heard someone say the legal function in a company is like a liquid function, because it goes everywhere. I am empowered by my reporting line to the CEO because that gives me more power to interact with other vice presidents or directors of the company as a peer. I think that the GC is a person that is expected to be a part of the company to contribute, not only as a legal leader, but also as a trusted adviser to the other lines of business in the company. As a GC I am expected to be the person that adds value to a company by allowing things to happen whilst managing risk.

My team provides advice, and I value the respect and trust that we receive from colleagues. I think that if they trust and respect us, that means we are doing a good job. I keep my team engaged by encouraging them to take ownership of their work. I also tell them to keep smiling, be relaxed and not to panic when something goes wrong. Failure is something that we are not afraid of, particularly if that failure is the result of having tried to achieve something very difficult, even though you were very well prepared. It encourages creativity, teamwork and support. I like my team to take responsibility for their work, to work hard and not give up their specialism. It is important to also observe others’ mistakes and others’ successes and learn from them.

I encourage my team to work from home. I let my people have their vacation when they want to have their vacation. I ask them to work very hard, but I also ask them to rest hard as well and to enjoy their private life.

GCs have a very important task because of the rapid and significant impact of digital transformation.

For GCs and for legal counsel at law firms, for the legal profession in general, the years to come are going to be very challenging. Digital transformation is happening at a faster pace than changes to regulate the digitalisation of our economy. We must have an idea on how regulation is going to evolve and try to assess the future with that uncertainty. Historically, regulation tended to take place in line with industry changes. This is unlikely to be the case over the next few years. A major challenge that we face is providing advice where regulation is not clear, and our advice must be provided in the context of ambiguity.

At InterCorp, we launched an initiative called InterCorp Roundtable, where we bring local and regional law firms to discuss digital changes. We have discussed various issues relating to data, including data analytics and how to manage data, following stricter regulations. We know we must work together with regulators.

Interview with

Juan Antonio Castro
General Counsel at InterCorp Group