The Foro Gerencias Legales Miami 2026, held on 11 June and organised by Gericó Associates, brought together general counsel, legal directors, compliance experts and partners from international firms to analyse the challenges facing legal departments in an environment of rapid technological, regulatory and reputational transformation.
The event was sponsored by Akerman, Consortium Legal, Robalino, Aguilar Castillo Love, Cáceres Torres, DMK Abogados, Estudio Olaechea and CorralRosales, and received institutional support from the University of Miami – School of Law, the Miami International Arbitration Society and the Miami International Arbitration Center. The panels addressed crisis management, compliance, international arbitration, financial sustainability, international expansion and corporate governance.
Leonardo Berrío, Secretary General and Legal Affairs at ESENTTIA / Grupo Ecopetrol, highlighted the current moment for international arbitration and the role Miami could play in that ecosystem: “The forum highlighted three key elements: the continuing relevance of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism, the challenges of integrating legaltech and artificial intelligence into that practice, and the advantages of Miami as an alternative seat to New York, London or Singapore. It has been a valuable space for sharing experiences with other general counsel and firm lawyers.”
Andrea Mon, Global Director of Ethics & Compliance and Investigations at Fresh Del Monte, underlined the importance of anticipating crises and learning from them: “The key lies in having a framework that manages crisis proactively. Companies that do not learn from a crisis never reach the level of maturity needed to protect their reputation – both externally and towards their own employees. Regulated companies tend to have those structures in place, but even within them there are gaps. That is where the compliance professional’s work comes in: building a complete cycle of intake, triaging, investigation and root cause analysis. Smaller companies are the most vulnerable, but good practice does not depend on regulatory obligation – it is a management decision.”
Juan Carlos Castillo, Senior Partner at Aguilar Castillo Love, summarised the central lesson from his panel: “Today’s world leaves no room to react once a crisis has already occurred. A crisis is not won or lost at the moment it happens – it is decided beforehand. Preparation and anticipation are the real advantage; everything else is execution.”
Arnold Castillo, Managing Director at Secretariat, reinforced that view from the perspective of reputation management and litigation support: “Latin America and the Caribbean are experiencing a growing diversification of risks – political, security-related and operational – that demands preparedness across three moments: before, during and after a crisis. The General Counsel is the bridge between internal and external stakeholders, and their role is to communicate with transparency in order to maintain or restore the confidence of key stakeholders.”
Finally, Marc Gericó, Global Managing Partner at Gericó Associates, highlighted the significance of the Forum in the region’s current context: “Miami has established itself as the natural meeting point for legal leaders from Latin America and the United States, and this forum reflects that. What we see year after year is a legal function that has ceased to be a support area and become a central actor in strategic decision-making. Today’s General Counsel manages reputational risk, anticipates regulatory scenarios and leads international arbitration processes with a vision that goes well beyond the purely legal. Our objective with this space is precisely that: to offer a high-level forum where that evolution is discussed, shared and accelerated.”
The Foro Gerencias Legales Miami 2026 reaffirmed Miami’s role as a strategic hub for international arbitration and the function of the legal department as a strategic partner to Latin American and US companies in risk and crisis management.
