CorralRosales is one the largest firms in this chapter and has been flourishing since its clean and amicable break from another firm in this chapter in 2017. During the merger, a policy for the career development of associates and partners was implemented, which remains in place at CorralRosales today, albeit with further enhancements.
Over the past few years, CorralRosales has focused on cultivating a young and modern operation. Rafael Rosales and managing partner Xavier Rosales led a reorganisation process that has seen the creation of a new and single brand for its general corporate and IP structures. They also built a more horizontal structure that encourages closer collaboration between partners and associates and motivates lawyers to become more involved in the firm’s development. There is now a process committee, where senior associates and partners come together to discuss ways to improve service provision, which is evidence of the all-hands-on-deck approach in strategic matters. Increasing its diverse talent is also important here, and the firm is working on implementing a formalised diversity policy.
CorralRosales is pushing its well-connected and highly regarded partnership for more horizontal and vertical diversification. Practice-area specialisation is accompanied by a range of industry groups that provide clients with a more comprehensive service offer. This offering includes nearly 10 technicians working in-house as industry specialists.
The firm’s corporate and M&A and IP offerings are highly regarded and work with prestigious long-term clients. According to the study, ‘Who Represents Latin America’s Biggest Companies’, published by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association, which is affiliated to Latin Lawyer, the firm represents 15 of Latin America’s approximately 100 biggest companies, making it the most popular firm among these clients in Ecuador.
Although CorralRosales has seen an uptake in its local clients of late, a vast majority of the firm’s clients remain international. The leadership hopes establishing an area for family businesses will help towards achieving this goal of increasing mandates from its Ecuadorian clientele in the coming years.
Antitrust, disputes and labour are all also core areas. CorralRosales was especially busy delivering regulatory advice to clients. Recently, the firm has also focused on organically developing its tax practice, stemming from initially advising corporate clients on such matters. The tax team has experienced significant growth of late, while the firm has also set out to establish new areas surrounding data protection and privacy law considering new data protection regulations.
CorralRosales’ investment in technology certainly paid off and facilitated the transition to hybrid working. The firm has continued to invest in new technology; recently implementing new software to facilitate keeping track of judicial cases and delivering regular reports to clients. This tool will directly benefit the firm’s dispute-resolution practice group, and additionally, it can be used for understanding customs policies and reviewing import and export data, which is helpful for the tax and trade teams.