Speaker details

Biography

Verónica Raffo is a partner in FERRERE and participates actively in its management and strategic leadership. She is involved in highly complex cases with sensitive content focusing on corporate issues, dispute negotiation, collective bargaining and compliance audits. In her role as attorney she participates in corporate governance issues and complex negotiations in Uruguay and internationally. She also leads the Labor, Social Security and Migration practice area and collaborates especially on the development of women at the firm. In addition to her professional activity, Raffo is a referent on entrepreneurship and gender issues, both in Uruguay and internationally. In that connection she is an affiliate of the FCEM (Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises Mondiales) world organization, and since 2012 has been FCEM Commissioner for Latin America. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Más Emprendedoras, a program jointly executed by MIF IDB and ENDEAVOR that seeks to promote creation and development of women-led enterprises. She represents Uruguay to Vital Voices –founded by Hillary Clinton- and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization. She is a member of the Advancement of Women Lawyers project of the Vance Center for International Justice, which promotes development and leadership of women attorneys in their countries and internationally. Between 2010 and 2016 she was President of the Organization of Businesswomen of Uruguay (OMEU). In 2016 was named the most recognized woman business leader in Uruguay, according to a survey conducted by the El Observador newspaper. The survey was taken among business owners and executives in different areas of activity to find out who they considered the leading women entrepreneurs and executives in Uruguay and why. Also, she was recognized by the same newspaper among the 50 most influential women in Uruguay (2013 and 2014), and by Latin Lawyer (2013) among the 50 most inspiring women in law in Latin America. In 2015 she was appointed as officer of the Employment and Industrial Relations Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). She is also Director of Enseña Uruguay, an institution that promotes education in critical context areas. Raffo advises international corporations such as Abbott, Lloyds Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, IBM, Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser, Nielsen, Metlife, DirecTV, Nestlé, Tupperware, UBS, Credit Suisse, ISS Group and Petrobras, among others, and frequently works jointly with regional and international law firms. She has published dozens of articles and been a speaker at national and international congresses organized by the Uruguayan Labor Law Association, the World Labor Law Association, and the International Bar Association, on matters related to regulation, investment and business climate, labor market trends, gender, and entrepreneurship.