Features
A new chapter in the same saga
Argentina is facing a period of public and private sector debt restructuring – again. Bomchil partners Tomás Araya and Fermín Caride set out the challenges the country faces and the options ahead for debtors and creditors.
It’s time for Brazil to change its perception of medical cannabis
Countries around the world – including in Latin America – are regulating the use of medical cannabis, tapping into a lucrative and expanding market for the drug. So far Brazil has yet to follow suit, but Graça Couto Advogados partner Natalie Sequerra says it’s time for a rethink.
At a turning point
Inspired by the GDPR, Brazil’s data protection law was due to come into force this year. While enforcement of the legislation has been delayed until 2021, its eventual impact will be watched closely by lawmakers around Latin America. We convened a roundtable in Miami with in-house counsel, data privacy officers and private practitioners to share their experiences of data-rich dealmaking and complying with data protection laws in a region where enforcement levels vary greatly.
International Lawyer of the Year: Paola Lozano
Paola Lozano has built her career on an illustrious body of work on US-based M&A deals, which eventually led her full circle back to her home region of Latin America. We speak to the winner of Latin Lawyer’s International Lawyer of the Year Award.
Managing tension
In government investigations, the interests of companies and their employees sometimes diverge: a company may wish to self-report, whereas individual employees might be less inclined to cooperate.
Change on the horizon
Ecuador is set to become the newest entrant to the market-friendly Pacific Alliance trade bloc, putting it on a path to receiving greater foreign investment. The legal markets of Ecuador’s prospective trade partners have opened up to foreign firms more than anywhere else in the region. At a roundtable in Quito law firm partners weighed up whether Ecuador’s local heavyweights should fear what is to come, or if there will be enough work to go around.
A balancing act
Lawyers don’t tend to leave a career in private practice to go in-house for the money, instead they’re often after better equilibrium between their professional and personal lives. Nowadays, law firms are competing better with companies on the work–life balance they offer their associates, but how successful are their efforts?
Making it count
Generation Y is often thought of as a tough nut for employers to crack, so it’s positive news for law firm managing partners that a good number of today’s associates have long-term ambitions at the firms they are in. But with so many lawyers having their heart set on becoming partner and only a certain number of spots available, how can firms maintain satisfaction levels among lawyers, whether they’re on the partnership track or not?
What are law firms paying associates?
Fewer Latin American law firm associates feel positive about their salaries than they did a few years ago – and for good reason, as many pay packages are not rising above inflation. But despite meagre economic growth putting paid to increases, more associates rate their wages positively than negatively.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Fernando Aguirre
From self-exile, to partaking in clandestine governments, to helping establish democracy in Bolivia, Fernando Aguirre has redefined what it means to go above and beyond the conventional lawyer’s calling. Latin Lawyer speaks to one of this year’s two Lifetime Achievement Award winners to find out how he balanced his political life with private practice.
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