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Morgan Lewis has a vibrant Latin America practice with a number of competitive advantages. Across the region our key practices include energy, telecommunications, project development, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, and financial restructuring. We also have strong capabilities in tax, regulatory, investment management, real estate, labor and employment, litigation, and international arbitration, among other areas. Many of our practices are routinely ranked by Chambers Latin America, The Legal 500 Latin America, Latinvex, Latin Lawyer, and other publications as leading practices in the region.

Our offices in Houston and Miami have deep cultural and business ties to Latin America, and with more than 2,200 legal professionals around the world, our firm’s size allows us to do work for clients in Latin America across an extensively broad array of areas. Additionally, our globally recognized practices attract a strong network of local counsel in the region that we rely on for advice.

A Region in Transformation

We understand that Latin America is increasingly important to our clients as the region continues to be profoundly transformed by the dramatic rise of the middle class. The effect of this demographic shift on markets is dramatic. Consider the energy sector: While demand growth for electricity in the United States has slowed, demand in Latin America is expected to double between 2010 and 2030, requiring $430 billion in new investment. The telecom industry tells a similar story, with numerous companies announcing recent investments in Latin America totaling billions of dollars. 

From energy, financial services, technology, and infrastructure to consumer and retail, the markets in Latin America for many of our clients provide more opportunity for growth than in the United States. And our clients in the Asia-Pacific region are investing in Latin America for additional reasons, including to secure the natural resources needed to help fuel emerging economies. In all of these situations and more, our team gives clients confidence that their matters will be handled with creative, compelling solutions.

Brazil

Morgan Lewis has a thriving team dedicated to Brazil, which is both an exciting and daunting market for our clients. Despite a recent economic slowdown, Brazil maintains well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors; has a rapidly expanding middle class; continues to expand its presence in world markets; and is on many experts’ short list of those countries to most affect the 21st century. Our lawyers have worked on a number of leading matters in Brazil, especially in the areas of finance, restructuring, energy, telecoms, investment management, labor and employment, and antitrust. We are consistently sought out in both flourishing and uncertain times.

Cuba

Our Latin America team has advised clients on business issues related to Cuba for decades. Drawing on our experience, we assist clients with understanding the emerging opportunities and navigating the existing legal and regulatory complexities associated with business activities in Cuba. We are familiar with the history and laws relating to US policy on Cuba, including the long-standing embargo, the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC’s) regulations, the various statutes codifying the Cuba sanctions, and the myriad changes that have taken place since the United States announced in 2014 a historic overhaul in US-Cuba relations.

Mexico

As the United States’ second-largest export market and third-largest source of imports, and with a highly developed manufacturing sector and numerous free-trade agreements, Mexico is important to our clients both in the United States and around the world. Our lawyers have worked on leading matters in Mexico, especially in the areas of finance, restructuring, energy, telecoms, corporate/M&A, investment management, labor and employment, and antitrust. 

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3 Perspectives on Latin America

Morgan Lewis partners Felipe Alice, John Crespo, and Humberto Padilla Gonzalez are energized about representing clients in Latin America. Learn why.

Our top-tier antitrust and competition practice has a long history in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Mexico. We have a track record of providing high-quality advice and achieving successful outcomes for clients engaged in a full range of matters, including antitrust investigations, infringement actions (including actions for damages), and merger control. 

In Latin America, we advise clients on a broad range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, leveraged buyouts, venture capital, and other public and private equity financings. Our clients include corporations, private equity firms and hedge funds, investment and commercial banks, venture-capital firms, entrepreneurs, and management teams. 

Lawyers on our Latin America debt capital markets team are known market leaders who understand the nuances of Latin American business practices, laws, and cultures. Advising clients from offices in New York, Houston, London, and Hartford, we represent all types of market participants in debt securities offerings designed to conform to global standards while accommodating local legal and regulatory requirements.

Our team includes lawyers licensed to practice in Latin American jurisdictions who are fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. In addition, our clients benefit from our ability to draw upon longstanding collaborative relationships with local legal counsel and key business partners throughout Latin America.

We counsel corporations, sovereign governments, underwriters, and investors on a wide range of debt capital markets transactions, including US Securities and Exchange Commission–registered offerings, Rule 144A offerings, Regulation S offerings, debt private placements, liability management transactions, and restructurings.

Morgan Lewis is frequently ranked among the top law firms in various capital markets league tables. Our team has experience advising clients on the full spectrum of debt capital markets products, including Eurobonds, high-yield notes, convertible and exchangeable bonds, regulatory capital instruments, medium-term note programs, and structured products. We have particular experience with the listing of debt securities on stock exchanges around the world, including on the New York Stock Exchange, Luxembourg Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Irish Stock Exchange, among others.

Morgan Lewis is a leading provider of legal services to the energy industry in Latin America and globally. We provide practical, thoughtful, and informed advice on some of the world’s most complex and significant energy transactions. With more than 100 energy lawyers operating in key energy and financial centers, we advise on project development and finance; mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures; capital markets transactions; and regulatory and compliance issues. Our coverage extends across the energy spectrum, from oil and gas to liquefied natural gas, petrochemicals and refining, and conventional and renewable electric power. 

Our finance practice in Latin America advises clients on banking and finance transactions, capital markets transactions, private placements, and restructurings. Our clients include banks, funds, insurance companies, development finance institutions, and sovereigns.

Our well-known investment management practice has experience in Latin America. We handle the formation and operation of private investment funds (including international private equity, real estate, hedge funds, and other private investor funds) and represent institutional investors in funds. We also advise funds, investment managers, broker-dealers, corporate finance, and other financial services firms on all aspects of regulation and compliance.

Morgan Lewis has one of the largest intellectual property (IP) practices of any full-service law firm in the world. We provide a range of IP services, including litigation at the district court, International Trade Commission, and appellate levels; patent preparation and prosecution; trademark and copyright counseling and portfolio management; post grant and other administrative proceedings before the US Patent and Trademark Office; licensing, technology transfer, and other transactions; and addressing IP issues in corporate transactions. 

Our telecommunications, media, and technology team is on the cutting edge of the communications field in Latin America and globally. We enjoy an international reputation because we understand the communications industry’s history—from the evolution of this sector throughout the last 40 years to where it is today—as well as where future opportunities and roadblocks may lie. Our team includes lawyers formerly in senior-level positions with government agencies, as well as lawyers with in-house industry experience. 

The global reach of our renowned labor and employment practice allows us to provide employment and immigration services to clients from all business sectors on a range of domestic, Latin American, and multijurisdictional projects. We work closely with our partners licensed in Brazil and Mexico, and our network of counsel in Latin America is particularly active in Puerto Rico. 

Companies that operate in Latin America face increased anticorruption risk and scrutiny. We bring a cross-disciplinary team of lawyers to advise clients in white collar litigation, government investigations, and compliance matters. From pre- and post-transaction due diligence to compliance counseling and training, we implement mechanisms designed to reduce the risk of corrupt activity and the enforcement actions and consequences that may flow from them. 

  • Representation of the underwriters in a capital markets offering by Mexico’s state-owned electric utility.
  • Representation of a Mexican telecoms company in its investment in, and subsequent divestiture of, a Mexican wireless telecoms carrier.
  • Representation of a Mexican private equity firm, in a joint venture with the International Finance Corporation to invest in distressed assets in the Caribbean.
  • Representation of an international oil and gas company in its participation in Mexico’s initial rounds for upstream assets, under Mexico’s new energy-sector reform.
  • Representation of a US telecoms company in the incorporation of a local subsidiary and related regulatory issues in Belize.
  • Representation of a Japanese company on potential opportunities in the Cuban life sciences industry given current US embargo and licensing policies.
  • Representation of a telecoms company in obtaining export licenses for satellite telecoms equipment in Cuba.
  • Representation of a global power company in connection with an acquisition of a power asset in Honduras.
  • Representation of a global power company in connection with an agreement to divest its interest in one of the largest power producers in the Dominican Republic.
  • Representation of numerous retailers in certain labor and employment issues in Puerto Rico.
  • Representation of a global power company in its acquisition of the largest independent power producer in Jamaica.
  • Representation of a global power company in connection with an acquisition of a power asset in Guatemala
  • Representation of a US telecoms company in the incorporation of a local subsidiary and related regulatory issues in El Salvador
  • Representation of an international oil company in connection with the farm-in of an offshore block in Nicaragua.
  • Representation of a global power company in connection with an acquisition of a power asset in Costa Rica.
  • Representation of a luxury goods maker in connection with OFAC compliance work (including work in connection with the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act) in Panama.
  • Representation of an international oil company in the disposition of an oil and gas interest in Ecuador.
  • Representation of a Brazilian energy company in the disposition of oil and gas interests in Colombia.
  • Representation of bondholder creditors of PDVSA, the Venezuelan national oil company, with respect to credit and government policy risk in Venezuela.
  • Representation of the Republic of Suriname in a debut sovereign Eurobond offering.
  • Representation of an equity holder of a leading Peruvian microfinance institution in the negotiated exit of all initial investors.
  • Representation of an international oil company in connection with the sale by an affiliate of its equity interests in the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline, the largest cross-border natural gas pipeline in Latin America.
  • Representation of a global bank in connection with a loan agreement with the Chilean state-owned copper mining company.
  • Representation of an ad hoc group of holders of untendered Argentine sovereign bonds in connection with contractual rights under pari passu clauses, with related litigation, and in settlement discussions.
  • Representation of creditors in connection with the OAS Brazilian insolvency proceeding.
  • Representation of an international bank in connection with a dam accident in Brazil.
  • Representation of a global telecoms company in the development and construction of three submarine cable systems in Brazil.
  • Representation of an international oil company in connection with the construction, lifting, gas use, and unitization of two giant offshore oil fields at the front end of development of the pre-salt fields in Brazil.
  • Representation of a client in connection with an internal investigation in Brazil.
  • Representation of a global chemical company in the sale of its Brazilian subsidiary.
  • Representation of a leading private equity real estate fund manager in the structuring, negotiation, and operation of its portfolio investments in Uruguay.