Formed after the separation of Arias & Muñoz, the first Central American law firm, Arias fields a 39-partner-strong offering across seven offices located in Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama. The firm is renowned for its advice to major global and regional banks, multilateral development institutions and household-name multinationals regarding complex, region-wide transactions, along with syndicated loans, project and acquisition finance, and local and cross-border M&A. Fintech specialist Mario Lozano, managing partner Lilian Arias, M&A expert Roberta Gallardo and Luisa Rivas are among the key names from the sizeable corporate and finance teams in El Salvador. In Costa Rica, Diego Gallegos and Vicente Lines lead the banking practice; Linares, who frequently advises clients on market entry, also heads up the corporate team alongside Andrey Dorado and Melania Dittel. Foreign investment expert Ana Teresa Rizo, Bertha Arguello, Gustavo-Adolfo Vargas (who is a key adviser to multilaterals), and Rodrigo Ibarra are the names to note in Nicaragua. In Guatemala, Luis Pedro Del Valle is the “go-to” figure for corporate and finance matters; Evangelina Lardizábal and Mario Agüero head the practice in Honduras (where the firm has offices in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula); and Yuri Moreno and M&A specialist María Cristina Fábrega lead the team in Panama.

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