Hernández & Cía has grown exponentially in various aspects. With aggressive poaching tactics and organic growth, it has significantly increased its number of partners and lawyers over the past decade, and it is now comfortably one of Peru’s 10 largest firms by headcount. It has also developed a full-service offering, with excellent tax services and strong transactional advice in M&A, private equity, banking and project finance, among others. The firm’s reputation has been reinforced in areas such as mining, labour and environmental law too. It also has rivals talking; several keep the firm under watch and as an increasingly serious competitor.
Hernández & Cía’s goal is to break into the top echelon of Peru’s legal sector, and it has a solid plan for how to do that. The partnership is confident it has the practice coverage it needs – what is left to do is deepen its bench in those areas and consolidate strong offerings across the board. Creating further sub-areas is also a serious option, as the firm has done successfully in anti-corruption and investigations, real estate and fishery law lately. One more recent example has been to carve out a construction law division from the firm’s administrative law department.
The firm has strengthened its line-up, hiring tax and arbitration partners, and promoted a labour lawyer to its senior rank in 2021. That followed a real estate partner hire and three promotions to the top rank across transactional practices in the previous year.
Hernández & Cía’s bulked-out headcount has led to a thorough overhaul of internal structures. Cautious not to over-extend itself, the firm now maintains several committees dedicated to areas like HR, marketing, diversity and technology. Investment in technology has nearly tripled since the start of the pandemic, while an internal technology committee is constantly researching new market tools that may benefit the firm.
The firm stood strong throughout the pandemic – no lawyers or administrative staff were laid off and no salary reductions were required. At the same time, Hernández & Cía strengthened its market share of top deals. Meanwhile, the firm promoted several lawyers to senior associates in 2021, something the management understands is also needed in rougher times to retain talent and keep lawyer careers on track.
Client reviews confirm that Hernández & Cía is becoming a serious contender in Peru’s highly competitive legal market. A client describes the firm’s advice as outstanding, singling out efficiency, fast delivery and quality as key attributes of lawyers’ work.