Hogan Lovells has expanded its Latin America offering by launching a second office in Brazil, hiring former Clifford Chance (CC) partner Isabel Costa Carvalho.
Its new São Paulo office will operate as a foreign legal consultancy, offering services to local and international companies and banks after the Brazilian Bar Association awarded the global law firm a licence to practise in the region in July 2013.
Hogan Lovells has expanded its Latin America offering with the launch of its second office in Brazil, with the hire of former Clifford Chance partner Isabel Costa Carvalho.
Its new São Paulo office will operate as a foreign legal consultancy offering services to local and international companies and banks after the Brazilian Bar Association awarded the firm a license to practise in the region in July 2013.
Capital markets partner Costa Carvalho will lead the new team and focus on bolstering the firm’s Latin America-based equity capital markets, corporate and international debt capital markets practices as well as its New York, Washington and London based capital offering focused on Latin America. Continue reading “Hogan Lovells expands Latin America footprint with hire of CC partner in Brazil”
With Brazil’s economy continuing to disappoint during 2013, there is increasing focus on other economies across Latin America. Moving to meet that demand Iberian giant Garrigues has announced that it is to acquire Colombian outfit Zarama y Asociados.
Garrigues has secured the signatures of Zarama y Asociados sole partners, Fernando Zarama and Camilo Zarama, along with the rest of the fee earners at the firm. The deal allows Garrigues to make a significant play in one of the fastest growing and most touted of Latin America’s economies, combining the practice with the Spanish firm’s Bogota branch.
Continue reading “As Brazil cools Latam heat – Garrigues moves into Colombia; SJB primes Saudi move”
Following recent news that insurance specialist Kennedys is to merge with Simpson & Marwick in Scotland, the firm announced on Friday (6 September) that it is to extend its reach into Latin America through an association with Bogota insurance boutique Botero Salazar Tobón & Abogados (BST).
Kennedys now has four associations in Latin America, complementing existing associations in Brazil with Fabio Torres & Associados Advocacia Empresarial in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, in Chile with Santiago based Acuña & Cia and in Mexico with Bufete Solís Marín. Continue reading “Latin America pulls in insurance firms as Kennedys launches in Bogota”
After so much talk of the rise of Latin America since the 2008 banking crisis gripped Western economies, there is no doubt that 2012 felt like something of a disappointment.
The region’s powerhouse economy, Brazil, saw growth slow considerably, cooling the market that has by far the greatest regional pulling power for multinationals and international law firms. The result, in relative terms against a 2010 and 2011 dominated by record levels of inward investment and a string of big-ticket deals, was a low-key year for advisers.
Continue reading “Laterally Latin – a sideways year for a hot market”
DAC Beachcroft has strengthened its presence in Latin America by becoming the first European-based firm to launch in Chile by acquiring two local firms.
Chilean players SegurosLex and Amunategui y Cia joined the English firm to create DAC Beachcroft Chile at the beginning of November in a move to extend its leading insurance practice in the continent.
DAC Beachcroft is also keen to seal a partnership with Colombian firm De La Torre & Monroy within the next 12 months. De La Torre works primarily with insurers and undertakes a lot of work related to the London market, so would be a logical fit for the major UK firm. Continue reading “DAC Beachcroft becomes first UK firm in Chile”
Baker & McKenzie has extended its increasing strategic focus on Latin America by becoming the first international law firm to establish in Peru.
The firm announced a new partnership with Estudio Echecopar, a leading Lima-based firm, in October. It is one of the largest firms in Peru, with over 200 staff, and is ranked in the top tier in the current issue of The Legal 500 Latin America for corporate, M&A, disputes, projects and banking and finance.
Continue reading “Baker & McKenzie becomes first global firm in Peru”
With the International Relations Committee of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) due to vote on suggested changes to the country’s Bar rules, LB has obtained a copy of the proposals up for discussion.
Drafted by attorney Carlos Roberto Siqueira Castro, partner in Rio de Janeiro-headquartered litigation outfit Siqueira Castro Advogados, the report pushes for a major reinforcement of the existing rules governing international law firms practising in the country.
Continue reading “Brazilian Bar expected to vote to end foreign associations”
Should anyone ever write a comprehensive history of international law firms, a good place to start would be Caracas. Over half a century ago, the Chicago-based pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories headed to Latin America to establish an operation in the Venezuelan capital. It needed a reliable local law firm on the ground, where the lawyers had a good command of English. Its hometown law firm at the time was a relatively young outfit, just seven years old, called Baker & McKenzie. It was a single-site law firm, but eventually Abbott Laboratories persuaded it to come south and establish an office in Venezuela. Ultimately, both client and law firm would walk away happy. Abbott Laboratories retained a consistent standard of legal advice, while Baker & McKenzie retained a lucrative client, plus a guaranteed workflow in a new and untapped jurisdiction. The year was 1955.
A lot has happened since then, but the business case behind why most firms open international offices remains relatively unchanged. Caracas helped Baker & McKenzie develop a taste for foreign jurisdictions, and in time the Western legal industry as a whole would become increasingly bold in its attempt to enter new and emerging markets. The past two decades in particular have seen a flurry of flags being placed in maps, with almost every global region enjoying its moment in the sun, from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, through to Asia and the Middle East. The last destination of choice was Dubai in the heady, halcyon days before the global financial crisis took hold. Throughout all of this, Latin America was relatively unloved, despite Baker & McKenzie’s pioneering attentions. The firm remained loyal to the continent where it all began, establishing 14 offices across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, but a combination of volatile politics and economics meant that most other law firms weren’t interested in committing to the region, except for a few small US outposts in Mexico City. The recent move by Argentina to nationalise its New York-listed oil and gas company RPF, at the expense of the Spanish energy company Repsol’s majority shareholding, is a reminder of the inherent risks that are still perceived to exist in certain Latin American countries.
Brazil’s economic growth and status in the global economy has helped create one of the most sophisticated legal communities among the emerging markets
The legality of foreign law firms having local associated practices may grab some of the headlines, but Brazil’s relentless economic expansion and the growth of international deals in the market has been getting the top billing. The boom has not only attracted a slew of foreign firms but also driven the development of an increasingly sophisticated domestic legal market.
