About
The firm: ISOLAS is a leading international law firm with its headquarters in Gibraltar. Established in 1892, it is Gibraltar’s oldest law firm. Truly independent, it offers clients the benefits of commitment, continuity and the close personal interest expected of a long-established firm. ISOLAS has a reputation for combining expert legal advice with commercial pragmatism. The firm is known to be practical and confident in the advice it gives. It is consistently ranked as one of the leading law firms in the jurisdiction by the major international legal directories. Isolas acts for international clients, including most of the major UK, European and US banks, as well as multinational insurers and reinsurers.
Areas of practice
International banking and finance: the firm is a leading player and has specialist lawyers who deal with all aspects of banking and finance. The firm’s specialist team is led by Christian Hernandez, who is acknowledged as one of the leaders in the jurisdiction.
Admiralty and shipping: whilst Gibraltar boasts a large number of law firms, there are very few that have a specialist, highly experienced Admiralty department. Credit to the firm’s experience and expertise in Admiralty matters is the fact that the firm is continuously involved in the majority of shipping disputes in Gibraltar, as well as receiving instructions from many London shipping law firms.
Commercial and litigation: ISOLAS has developed one of the leading and most successful commercial and trust litigation departments in Gibraltar. The firm’s expertise ranges from (general) commercial litigation, to established specialisation in telecommunications, insurance, banking and financial services, international trade, and private international and EU law. In addition, the firm has established expertise in a very wide range of personal and corporate insolvency issues, including receivership, administration, liquidation, arrangements with creditors and debt recovery in general. The civil aspects of commercial fraud (invariably in an insolvency or insurance context) are also an aspect of work undertaken by the firm, which includes tracing remedies, search and seize orders and freezing injunctions. ISOLAS is also widely regarded as having the best, most-experienced employment team in the jurisdiction.
ISOLAS has been at the forefront of developments in financial services and insurance having been instructed on both the first part VII transfer of insurance business out of Gibraltar and with the establishment of Gibraltar’s first insurance linked securities manager.
ISOLAS is a market leader in the fintech sector, having worked closely with the government of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission on various niche areas within this space. The firm has been instrumental, through its participation in government-established working groups, in shaping discussions and regulations in the context of DLT financial activity, maintaining its contribution to the further development of this space.
The firm recently acquired boutique family office firm Legacy Consulting Limited, bolstering its offering in the private client space with the addition of Emma Lejeune.
Gaming: ISOLAS has been at the forefront of developments in the local gaming industry which accounts for 12% of employment in Gibraltar. Steven Caetano is a regular advisor to Gibraltar licensed online gaming companies on all relevant areas of that practice.