Macarena Laso becomes first female managing partner of Morales & Besa

Macarena Laso, partner of the Real Estate and Construction, Projects and Infrastructure and Corporate M&A practices is the new managing partner of Morales & Besa, one of the few female partners to assume such responsability within the local legal market. She accepted the position held by partner José Miguel Carvajal, who served in this function for over three years.

“I am proud to highlight that, in almost 30 years of history, in Morales & Besa decisions have been consistent and have resulted in concrete measures to generate spaces for our youngest female lawyers to feel represented and to visualize their growth in the profession and in our organization,” commented Macarena about the decision.

As the new managing partner, Macarena wants to focus mainly on three projects that she considers as crucial for remaining at the forefront of local law firms: continuous improvement in technological developments; wellbeing and adaptation of the team to a new post-pandemic scenario; and to keep on improving efficiency processes.

José Miguel Carvajal, who is retiring the position, commented that Macarena will not only contribute by ensuring continuity to the projects under development, but also by generating value through her experience from the key role she has played in the firm’s response to the contingency derived from the pandemic. “We are proud to have one of the first female managing partners among firms with specialties and sizes similar to ours, which sets a precedent for more firms to do the conscious work of generating these spaces,” José Miguel added.

Since 2018 Macarena co-led the firm’s Human Capital Committee, responsible for monitoring the team’s well-being, which has had to face the challenges arising from the pandemic. “While being managing partner is a role that goes beyond my contributions in this committee and others in which I participate, my experience in this instance is very valuable to me in that it broadened my view of the functioning of the organization to other dimensions,” concluded Macarena.

Macarena has received multiple recognitions throughout her career, which include, among others, acknowledgments by Chambers and Partners in Corporate/M&A and Legal 500 in Projects and Infrastructure. She is also a member of some corporate boards of directors, and arbitrator at the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce.