Unlike many other countries in Latin America, Panama’s economy is mainly based on the services sector. The International Monetary Fund shows the country is on the path for healthy growth of 5% in 2023.
Laurentino Cortizo’s administration will come to an end in 2024 and the incumbent president will be ineligible to run again for office. He has delivered on campaign pledges to fight corruption and has introduced stringent know-your-client and anti-money laundering rules since taking office, alongside solidifying the country’s trade ties with the US.
Unfaltering in their prioritisation of high ethical standards, law firms across the country continue to reinforce the message that Panama is a good place to do business. As such, leading law firms have overhauled compliance structures, while robust cybersecurity and data-protection systems have also been a priority.
Law firms are part of a compact and well-established market. As such, most of them boast more than a quarter of a century – if not more – in the business, meaning many are firmly woven into the fabric of the society and have built up impenetrable reputations.
Panama has been a popular pick for many companies establishing regional headquarters, leading to an uptick in demand for corporate and finance advice, alongside other transactional work for local firms. The Panama Canal expansion project heightened demand for this project experience, bringing significant investment and complex cross-border transactions into the economy. Sophisticated capital markets work also continues to keep firms active in this chapter.
Sophisticated cross-border transactions remain a lucrative source of work for law firms, along with capital markets and finance mandates. There is a large pool of lawyers across firms in this chapter, who are more than capable of catering to a broad variety of needs.
Panamanian firms continue to be busy with local transactional work, but firms are also active across administrative law, IP and labour law matters. The recent introduction of new data protection legislation, obligating entities in Panama to attain user consent before processing data, is also becoming an important source of work for some of the full-service outfits in this chapter.
This legal market remains compact and there are few international or regional players here, compared to other Latin America countries. Arias, Aguilar Castillo Love and Dentons are the exceptions. Lateral hires in the market remain rare, due to its size. Instead, firms prefer to reward homegrown talent with internal promotions.
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