ECIJA DVMS

The firm: ECIJA is a Iberoamerican law firm with offices in Dominican Republic, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. ECIJA has a multidisciplinary team of over 750 professionals, with exceptional experience in their areas of specialization, enabled to work in different jurisdictions, with extensive knowledge of the different industries and international markets. ECIJA is a client-focused law firm with the agility and personal service of a high-end boutique firm and the multidisciplinary experience of a large firm. ECIJA is a full-service firm with significant experience and specialized in the practice areas required by international clients to invest and operate globally.

The firm offers an unrivalled integrated cross-border platform in the Iberoamerican market. Since 2019, ECIJA has merged with 16 law firms and has become the largest Iberoamerican law firm in Latin America. Nowadays, ECIJA has 29 offices in 16 countries. Furthermore, in 2019 ECIJA signed the biggest strategic agreement between an Iberoamerican and a Chinese firm to create a joint venture with the 4th largest firm in China (Grandall Law). The agreement brought together 3,500 lawyers and 54 offices in Iberia, Latin America and Asia. “To put that in perspective, that is comparable with CMS and Norton Rose Fulbright, some of the biggest firms in the world by headcount.” Law.com

Main areas of practice
Corporate: the firm provides corporate and M&A services for both local and international clients. The practice in M&A is multi-jurisdictional, focused on transactions with a regional component in Latin American markets. The team is trained in legal project management tools in order to control time and cost of any transaction.

Banking and finance: the team includes prestigious attorneys who have assisted important international and local banks with sophisticated transactions. The firm’s services involve many aspects of the complex regulatory financial world, including syndicated credit facilities, project finance and banking products such as leasing, factoring, mortgages, pledges and credit cards.

Dispute resolution: ECIJA has a strong practice for dispute resolution both in local courts and arbitration. The disputes include commercial, civil, investment and government. Regarding arbitration, the firms has a regional practice of several partners with strong experience and skills in international arbitration using the ICC, AAA and UNCITRAL rules, and also with local rules in each country.

Technology and data privacy: ECIJA in one of the leading firms in the LatAm market for technology and data privacy matters. The team focuses on complex transactions, M&A and software development engagements.

Employment: the firm has a strong practice in employment matters from the employer perspective. The services include litigation, technology issues related to the employment, company’s restructuring, immigration and compliance.

Energy: the services include regulatory aspects related to obtaining licenses and authorizations, as well as the contractual aspects of negotiating agreements for electricity purchase with distribution companies. The relevant experience and knowledge of energy project developments also covers construction and financing agreements.

Trusts: the firm has advised regional and foreign clients in connection with the incorporation of trust companies, the opening of internal trust departments and the design of business transactions which employ trust structures, including philanthropic, administration, guaranty, and real estate development trusts. Likewise, ECIJA has advised local banks in connection with the implementation of trust operations that include financing structures.

Foreign investment: ECIJA has a regional legal team that is prepared to advise foreign investors on how to structure their investment in any country of the region, including aspects such as obtaining the benefits of various tax incentive regimes and dealing with customs issues that come up when importing or exporting goods and services.

Real estate: ECIJA is a well-known player in the real estate market in Latin America.  The team has developed special capacities in the baseball industry, and the development of multi-purpose and touristic projects.  ECIJA provides its services from developers of projects to individual investors seeking a second home.  The firm advises developers since the acquisition of the land through the permit process and until a final product is delivered to customers.