Latin America

Our International Dispute Resolution Group has been ranked by numerous publications as one of the top international arbitration practices in the world. We are counsel in some of the largest investment treaty disputes around the globe, and have recorded two of the top 12 arbitral awards in the world within the last decade.

We have long-established practice groups throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia immersed in the dispute resolution practices specific to each region. Our award-winning practice sets itself apart by finding innovative and practical solutions and employing strategic techniques, including early case evaluation; screening for appropriate dispute resolution procedures; billing and status-reporting flexibility; and a range of technology tools, combined with professionalism and commercial awareness.

Our lawyers are highly experienced in all forms of dispute resolution, including:

• Adjudication

• Advocacy

• Arbitration

• Dispute prevention

• Expert determination

• Litigation

• Mediation

Our banking and finance experience in the region ranges from advising shareholders in one of the largest deals in the history of the Dominican Republic’s financial sector and acting as local counsel on the issuance of billions of dollars of secured notes, to providing representation of banks in syndicated loan and complex loan restructuring efforts, to offering legal advice on financial issues for the implementation of mobile payments systems in the region.

We assist multinational clients in the structuring and placement of foreign direct investments in different sectors of the region’s economy and advise them while negotiating, executing and securing international financial transactions, including institutional private lending, asset-based lending, project financing, bond issuances and securitizations. Our lawyers have provided assistance and advice in the drafting, negotiation and execution of syndicated loan agreements, promissory notes and related collateral documents, including various mortgage agreements, bank account pledge agreements, insurance policy assignment agreements, relevant contracts assignment agreements and chattel mortgages over equipment and furniture.

Our lawyers regularly advise global public and private companies on international mergers and acquisitions, as well as securities law matters in the region. This includes advising multiple companies in spinoff and carve-out transactions of manufacturing and sales operations in Latin America and serving as primary outside securities compliance and governance counsel to several foreign private issuers.

Our lawyers’ specific capabilities in this area include:

• Joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions – Structuring and establishing joint ventures, including preparing and negotiating letters of intent, teaming agreements, joint development agreements, partnership agreements and shareholders’ agreements. We have also structured mergers and acquisitions within the Latin American oil and gas industry.

• Project assessment and due diligence – Performing on-site project due diligence, conducting risk assessments, and preparing and negotiating confidentiality agreements.

• Bid evaluation and preparation – Analyzing bid requirements, preparing and analyzing bid questions and answers, structuring and negotiating bid bonds, preparing bids and participating in post-bid clarification conferences with government entities.

• Corporate formalities – Evaluating and implementing Latin American corporate requirements and procedures as well as tax structures. We have experience in structuring and negotiating Latin American consortium and corporate documentation including documentation used in the formation of Latin Americansociedades anónimas, sociedades de responsabilidad limitada and similar structures. We also have experience in forming project companies and in drafting and legalizing corporate documentation including organizational charters, corporate authorizations and powers of attorney. In addition, we are familiar with international notarization and legalization procedures.

We have exceptional experience providing legal services in connection with energy-related matters in Latin America. Our energy lawyers have worked extensively in the region, and many are capable of counseling, negotiating, drafting and providing other legal services in Spanish and/or Portuguese. Our energy lawyers have worked on projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.

Throughout Latin America, we have represented developers and contractors in all aspects of the development and financing of energy projects including power plants, pipelines, processing facilities and transmission lines. We have also represented a variety of major investors, financial institutions and other entities in analyzing and responding to public tenders for Latin American energy projects, negotiating concession documentation, and negotiating and preparing the full range of project documentation, including project company contracts, equipment, procurement and construction contracts, operation and maintenance agreements, power purchase agreements and fuel supply agreements. Our finance experience includes non-recourse and limited-recourse financing, as well as more traditional corporate credit transactions. We have provided corporate, tax and dispute resolution counseling for such projects.

Our Government Investigations & White Collar Practice, spanning over 40 offices across four continents and fluent in more than 20 languages, is familiar with the local customs, courts and regulatory and legislative bodies necessary in a defense against governmental actions. Our team includes litigation and trial lawyers who honed their skills in senior positions with the US Attorney’s Office and the US Departments of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security and Department of the Treasury. We were involved in four of the 10 largest DOJ Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA), UK Bribery Act and anticorruption investigations, including as monitor of one of the largest FCPA matters in recent history.

Our Labor & Employment Practice assists numerous multinational and local clients with their business operations in the Dominican Republic and across the Latin American region. We have deep experience providing general legal assistance and advice to clients entering into, interpreting or terminating labor agreements in the Dominican Republic. We also provide pre-litigation assessment and advice to clients, as well as represent them in labor claims usually filed by employees before Dominican courts. Very often, our team is engaged to assist in the hiring or separation of high-level executives and advisers, acting in a discrete and effective manner.

We have also assisted clients with the transfer and relocation of executives and employees, and have advised them on the sometimes complex cross-border legal issues originating from such decisions. Our team also engages in extensive due diligence processes leading to the merger with or acquisition of companies operating in different sectors or segments of the Dominican economy. Dominican Republic labor laws offer employees considerable termination benefits, so the labor and employment part of the due diligence process is critical.

We have one of the most highly-regarded infrastructure finance legal practices in the world, with more than 60 lawyers who specialize in this area of work. Squire Patton Boggs is ranked among the leading firms in Latin America in IFLR 1000’s Energy and Infrastructure: Latin America for project finance, corporate and dispute resolution. In the area of highways, roads, rail and bridges that form basic transport infrastructure, we have designed and participated in many government-sponsored financings, and are involved in privately financed public sector projects throughout the world. Our work includes advising a consortium to construct an underwater cable system between and among Angola, Brazil, Uruguay, the US and Portugal.

Our public policy practitioners are trusted advisers to sovereign governments on how best to advance their objectives in Washington DC, Brussels and beyond. As developing markets mature, so does the demand for legal services from both government and business. The enduring relationships we have formed with government officials in capitals across the region, in Washington DC and around the world enable us to successfully engage on behalf of private businesses operating abroad to help them overcome challenges, whether they involve routine contracts, multibillion dollar infrastructure projects or critically sensitive matters of national security.

Our Latin America practitioners in our real estate and hospitality teams assist a wide variety of local and international clients, ranging from high-end tourism development projects, to Major League Baseball teams and the largest shopping mall in the Caribbean. The team regularly assists clients with the negotiation and drafting of complex real estate and related financial documents, comprehensive due diligence processes and cross-border legal issues frequently faced by multinationals in the country. They are also frequently engaged in large mergers and acquisitions to evaluate the associated real estate risks.

Our sanctions team is built on our ability to advise on the shifting regulatory framework across the globe. We have extensive experience in advising and representing a wide range of companies and financial institutions in Europe, the US, Latin America and other jurisdictions on export controls and sanctions from a multijurisdictional perspective. Our sanctions team is part of our overall global import and export compliance team, providing a “one-stop” solution to global trade compliance through rapid, professional and tailored advice and compliance tools to fit your business needs and processes.

We have served as trusted legal and political advisers to more than 100 sovereign governments and entities around the world, with deep experience in Latin America trade, finance and general matters. We also have years of experience helping governments address the numerous congressionally-mandated annual reports from the US Department of State and other federal departments and agencies that contain country-specific reviews, which, if negative, can carry considerable consequences. More broadly, our defense, trade, financial and national security lawyers liaise with the US Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, Department of the Treasury and Department of the State – as well as the congressional committees of jurisdiction – to address our clients’ foreign policy-related needs and concerns.