Corporate Law
Foreign Investment
Telecommunications
Real Estate
Intelectual Property
Sanitary Registrations
Agency, Distribution and Representation Agreements
Notary Public Services
Litigation
Administrative Procedures
Constitutional
Collections
Mergers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures
Due Diligence
International Financing
Alternative Disputes Resolutions (ADR)
Electricity
Bids
Privatizations
Tax Law and Tax Benefits
International Trade
Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds
Securities
Environmental
Oil and Gas
Additional Services

Corporate Law

We have extensive experience in incorporating, organizing and advising partnerships and businesses across a wide range of corporate issues, such as:

• Incorporating and Organizing Business

• We offer a complete service for constituting and organizing corporations:

• Incorporating companies, partnerships and branches of local and foreign enterprises and the registration of these in the corresponding government offices.

• Issuance and endorsement of provisional and definite certificates of shares and participations.

• Authorization and registration before Tax, Labor, Social Security Pension Funds and Municipal authorities.

• Elaboration and authorization of Accounting Systems.

• Authorization of corporate books 

Permanent Counseling and Legal Advice

It is important that corporations counseled by our firm receive permanent legal advice related to its ordinary business, in order for their activities and legal concerns are carried out and solved in a professional manner, so as to be in accordance to the laws of each country.

Our firm has a team of lawyers which provides said services efficiently.

Permanent counseling includes legal advise on Commercial, Civil, Labor, Taxation and Administrative matters.

Service of Management and Custody of Company Books

We provide the service of management and custody of corporate books (book of minutes of shareholders meetings, board of directors meetings, registry of shareholders, etc.), with the purpose of being able to maintain in a orderly manner and updated the corporate information.

Others:

• Registration, withdrawal and cancellation of appointments of members of the administration of the corporation as well as its managers and  attorneys

• Amendments of articles of incorporation

• Dissolution and liquidation of corporations

Foreign Investment

We provide advice, counseling and legal support to investors and foreign entities that wish to incorporate in the Central American Region, or carry out a business transaction.

This advice and legal support includes:

• Corporate counseling

• Agencies, distribution and representation agreements

• Acquisitions, mergers and purchasing assets

• Establish duty-free zones and regimes that grant tax incentives

• Obtaining and renewing work permits and temporary or permanent residencies for the company executives

• Legal representation of foreign entities by members of our firm

• Registry of foreign investment in governmental entities

• Counseling in immigration and labor matters

Telecommunications

We provide integral counseling for those entities that are dedicated to the area of  telecommunications, and we specialize in:

• Counseling for companies that are dedicated to services of data and voice transmission, such as Internet

• Interconnection agreements and other types of contracts that are required to operate the business of telecommunications

• Filing, renewal, follow-up and obtainment of permits, licenses, authorizations and concessions before telecommunication and administrative authorities to operate in such business

Real Estate

In real estate we provide counseling in:

• Purchase and sales

• Leases

• Investigation of real property

• Projects of condominiums

• Malls

• Land developments

• Administration of real property

• Rights in rem

• Registration procedures

Intelectual Property

In the area of industrial and intellectual property we have ample experience in:

• The preparation, filing and follow-up of applications and obtainment of distinctive signs registration, such as trademarks, tradenames and domain names, advertising expressions, symbols, among others

• Renewals, changes of names and transfers

• Administrative and judicial cases, as oppositions, appeal process, action of relief, cancellation actions and unfair competition actions

• Patents of invention, utility models and industrial designs

• Copyrights

Sanitary Registrations

We handle sanitary registrations, sanitary licenses and pharmaceutical registrations; and provide counseling related to requirements established by national laws for health and food products, lab tests and labels.

Agency, Distribution and Representation Agreements

• Negotiation of agency, distribution or representation contracts with individuals and corporations;

• Commercial litigations related with the termination of these contracts;

• Collection of compensation due to the termination of such contracts;

• When required, registration of said agreements in corresponding authorities.

Notary Public Services

• Drafting and granting of public deeds, due to the fact that in the region most contracts are required to be granted with this formality

• Advise  of the legal effects and implications of the granted instruments

• Legal advise on the fiscal implications of the acts and contracts granted

• Registration of such deeds if so required

• Legalization of documents and authentication of signatures

Litigation

We handle litigation processes, from counseling and alternative-dispute-resolution mechanisms, through the prosecution or defense of pretrial and trial proceedings in lawsuits, to post trial remedies and review in appellation and the Supreme Courts when permitted.

Our firm represents individuals and business entities in a wide variety of administrative, trial, and appellate cases in the areas of Civil, Corporate, Labor, Intellectual Property, Family, Tax, Constitutional and Contentious-administrative Law, such as:

• Antitrust

• Trademarks, copyrights and distinctive signs  infringements

• Contracts disputes

• Franchising, distribution representation and agencies

• Insurance claims

• Personal injury and property damage claims

• Termination of labor contracts and other labor disputes

• Real state and illegal registration of titles

• Securities

• Appeals and recourses in tax matters

• Trusts and estates

• Divorce cases

Administrative Procedures

Among the administrative procedures we offer the services of filing and follow up of permits, licenses, authorizations and administrative grants, such as:

• Authorization of charter flights or airlines;

• Mine concessions

• Drawback companies

• Duty-free zones

• Permits related to public health, environment and natural resources

• Fiscal credit returns

• Permits concerning maritime transportation and tourist sector

Constitutional

In certain cases, and only after the depletion of all recourses, we accept and direct constitutional guarantees for protection of rights, habeas corpus and unconstitutionalities, with the purpose of restituting our clients use and possession of its constitutional rights.

Collections:

In this area we specialize in collections of all types of debts with different guarantees: fiduciary, mortgages and pledges.  We perform the proceeds for the judicial collection in two phases:

Extra Judicial Phase

• Prior to initiating litigation in court, we contact the debtor and try to obtain a favorable negotiation for our client.

• Concurrently to the negotiation procedure we investigate the debtor, with the purpose of collecting information that will insure positive results in litigation, should we not obtain an agreement.

Judicial Phase

• Depleted the previous phase we proceed with the judicial collection phase

Mergers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures

We have experience in legal advice of this kind of transactions, especially in:

• Adequate planning of legal figures to be applied to the transaction

• Strategic planning related to labor issues

• Strategic fiscal planning, counsel related to tax obligations originated by the transaction,  as well as the risks that must be dealt with in the agreement in order to avoid future problems between the contracting parties

• Elaboration of necessary documents

• Counsel and filing of necessary procedures before tax authorities, being these state and municipal; before regulatory entities and Registry of Commerce, Property Registry and Intellectual Property Registry

Due Diligence

For all our new clients, we provide the service due diligence through which we revise all the legal documentation of the corporation, in order to determine any pending legal requirements, update the ones that are necessary and carry out the obligations to register those still pending.

Also, when our clients are interested in buying, acquiring or merging a corporation or group of corporations, we recommend conducting thorough due diligence, the conclusions of which together with our recommendations are duly documented in a report that contains the legal opinion of our firm.

International Financing

Our firm provides counseling in developing a legal strategy for the structuring of financing operations, including the structuring and elaboration of guarantee contracts, for:  capital loans, credit lines to intermediate financing institutions for sub-loans, co-financing, financing  all economic sectors in the Central American Region on a medium or long-term, permitted  by the domestic law of each country.

Alternative Disputes Resolutions (ADR)

Members of our firm have had an important participation in most cases where ADRs have been used in the Central American region, involving private corporations, as well as cases between states, in the fields of telecommunications and in relation to boundaries between states of the region. Considering the increase number of cases in the judicial systems of the region, the practice of mediation and conciliation as well as arbitration are a must for the solution of conflicts, and have become imperative for national and foreign investors, our firm being one of the few in this area with a solid experience. Such experience also expands to the counseling on the enforcement of foreign arbitration decisions in the jurisdictions of the region, as well as the review and inclusion of arbitration clauses or those dealing with alternate resolutions for disputes in accordance with local law, in contracts between private parties or with a State.

Electricity

Our firm also has considerable experience in counseling in the Electric Energy Sector in all its phases: privatization, deregulation, relations with the regulatory entities, Central America interconnection, obtaining of licenses, permits, concessions and registrations, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts specific to this sector and in all its fields: generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization, mainly providing assessment to foreign investors with broad participation in this sector worldwide and with investment interests in the whole Central American region.

Bids

We have assisted local and foreign investors in participating in public and private bidding procedures of State-owned assets or corporations, granting services to private and public entities, performing due diligence of the assets or corporations subject to the bid, and also providing counselling in relation to the applicable legal and regulatory aspects and the risks associated to the investment. The experience which our firm has includes, among others, the participation in bids of essential public services, bids directed to the updating official records of real estate, bids for installation of antennas and towers of telecommunications, electric energy services, public infrastructure and housing and for the installation of publicity boards.

Privatizations

Our firm has solid and wide experience in the counselling of local, foreign and mixed investors in the participation of the procedures of privatizations and co-investments that have taken place in the region; including essential public services of telecommunications, electric energy and all related fields, water, social security, banking, ports and airports. The counselling includes the diagnosis of the legal and economic environments, establishing linkage with possible local investors, legal auditing of assets or corporations subject to privatization, assisting in investment risks, protection and defence of the investor’s rights towards the Estate following the privatization or investment.

Tax Law and Tax Benefits

We provide counselling in the tax field both applied to the daily operations of our clients as to the tax and corporate planning of the local, foreign and multinational investor, maximizing the combined tax benefits offered by the region. Evenmore, we have the expertise to perform analysis that leads to accurately determining the tax impact of certain international commercial transaction and operations, the counselling for the installation and operation of corporations that benefit from tax incentive regimes offered in the region such as: Free Zones, Deposits for the Perfection of Goods, ZOLIC, tax deposits and others.

International Trade

In a global business environment, our firm is always uptodate with  developments relating to International Trade, such as legislation of foreign states which grant preferences to the region and trade agreements, including, among others, the General Preferences System, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, the WTO, the Uniformed Central American Customs Code, the several free trade agreements, currently in negotiations, signed and/or ratifies by or between the countries of the region and countries out of the region. Consequently, we have the ability to offer integrated advice to our clients in customs and commercial matters, export controls, government contracts, as well as to illustrate the foreign investor on opportunities in the region.

Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds

Our office has experience in providing general advise in banking, insurance and pension funds matters, including orientation in the applicable legislation to the client’s daily operations, or in specific transactions, as well as obtaining licenses, permits, registrations, and filing notifications before the regulatory entities of these areas.

Securities

Members of our firm have provided legal advise to local and foreign corporations on the sale of shares and securities through the Stock Exchanges of the Central American countries and on the impact of the regulations of the Stock Exchange to public and private commercial transactions in the region. Likewise, legal counselling has been provided to foreign risk rating corporations when establishing in the Central American region, and to corporations trading shares in the Stock Exchange in matters regarding minority rights and general shareholders meetings.

Environmental

Our firm has members that are active participants in important environmental, ecological and sustainable development organizations, both local and international. In addition, we have qualified knowledge of the environmental legislation and its application in the diagnosis and adjustment of new and existing operations, including the obtaining of permits and environmental certification, as well as in performing environmental due diligence. We accompany our clients to administrative hearings before the corresponding authorities.

Oil and Gas

Our firm has experience in legislation relative to hydrocarbons and gas, including counselling provided to foreign enterprises in the distribution and commercialization of fuel and diesel, relations with the regulatory entities, obtaining the corresponding permits to operate, and also in connection to reconnaissance studies and exploration permits of oil and gas. 

Additional Services

Additionally, we have the capacity of providing services of accounting and external auditing, since we are associated with accounting and auditing firms throughout the Central American region.