Felipe Ziegler Zugno
GENERAL COUNSEL
STIHL FERRAMENTAS
MOTORIZADAS LTDA
PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL
5:40 am
The alarm goes off. I wake up immediately and pretend I am a morning person. Get dressed — no tie required — and run to the kitchen to grab a slice of toast and chocolate milk. Give my wife and daughter a kiss before I leave for work.
7:00 am
Arrive at work after a 40-minute drive to the city of São Leopoldo, where Stihl is based, and prepare “chimarrão” (a regional drink to share, made with herbs and hot water) for the legal team. I turn my computer on, confirm the meetings that I have for the day, read the news, and check my emails.
8:00 am
Start working on an important construction contract that involves both drafting and negotiating with the supplier’s lawyers. Send an email to the purchasing manager indicating the risks involved with this contract.
9:30 am
Conference call with our headquarters in Germany about a group legal training scheduled for the board of directors in Brazil. Check the training materials based on Brazilian legislation, send them to board members, and give the board ́s secretary a call to make sure all the agendas have been blocked for the next week of training.
11:00 am
Run to the human resources training room, called “chainsaws” — which is aptly named after one of our company’s primary products. I provide the new employees with an introduction on compliance issues, including Stihl ́s code of conduct.
12:00 pm
Walk to the company ́s cantine for lunch with my colleagues from the legal and finance department. Enjoy some salad, chicken breast, rice, and Brazilian black beans. After I’m finished, I check the news.
1:00 pm
Grab a cup of coffee, brush my teeth, and walk to the department’s weekly meeting to discuss current legal topics as well as to decide the next steps for each topic. Once I am back at my desk, I quickly check the metrics of the legal department for the ongoing month, mainly with regard to the spending for the year, which is on track. Litigation is also under control.
2:00 pm
Monthly meeting with outside counsel to hear the status of consumer cases. I take advantage of the meeting to give them a feedback on the services rendered.
3:00 pm
Stop and watch an ACC webcast on privacy and data security in a global environment.
4:00 pm
Meeting with the company ́s outsourcing committee where I hear about a new IT solution for third parties’ monitoring and compliance, which I end up agreeing with after I learn more about it.
5:00 pm
Answer last-minute emails, check the meetings for the next day, and support my colleagues by demanding a response from other colleagues or third parties on relevant topics and projects.
6:00 pm
Drive back home. I listen to updates on the Brazilian economy and politics on the radio.
7:00 pm
Arrive at home, play with my daughter, and run to a tennis court to play with a friend. I ask my wife to order Japanese food for dinner.
8:00 pm
Get back from the match and take a shower before dinner arrives. I enjoy some delicious sushi with my wife and extended family who came over for dinner.
9:00 pm
Teach English to my daughter and watch cartoons before she goes to bed.
10:30 pm
Fall asleep.
