Arnold & Porter

Firm Details:
Chairman: Richard M Alexander
Co-Managing Partners: Michael D Daneker and Ellen Kaye Fleishhacker
Number of lawyers: Nearly 1,000
International Offices: London, Brussels, Shanghai, Seoul, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Denver, Newark, Chicago, New York, Houston

Firm Overview:
Arnold & Porter is a nearly 1,000 lawyer firm with renowned regulatory expertise, sophisticated litigation and transactional practitioners, and leading multidisciplinary practices in the life sciences and financial services industries. For clients across Latin America, the firm offers a unique perspective, extensive knowledge and thirty years of experience. For clients outside of the region, as more investors seek out opportunities in these fast-growing markets, Arnold & Porter provides strategic counsel as it navigates on a global scale. Many of the firm’s lawyers are native or fluent Spanish and Portuguese speakers, and a number of its attorneys have been trained under both Latin American civil law and US common law legal systems. The foregoing enables the firm not only to understand fully its clients’ goals and needs, but also to comprehend the economic, political, social, and cultural environment surrounding their businesses. This deep understanding of Latin America allows Arnold & Porter to provide insightful strategic advice beyond the legal practicalities.

Main Areas of Practice:
International Arbitration & Litigation:
Arnold & Porter handles disputes between sovereign governments and private investors, including disputes arising out of concession agreements and other state contracts, and pursuant to bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements. The firm states it has represented a larger number of Latin American States in international arbitration matters than any law firm in the world. The firm also has ample experience representing claimants in arbitration claims against States, both in Latin America and elsewhere. Attorneys have represented private as well as State parties in a wide range of commercial litigations in US courts arising out of transactions in Latin America or otherwise involving a Latin American party.

Sovereign Finance:
For more than 30 years, Arnold & Porter has acted as legal counsel in numerous international financial transactions on behalf of sovereigns and public sector entities. The firm has served as international counsel to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Venezuela. The firm regularly advises sovereigns and sovereign entities in private and public debt securities offerings; liability management transactions; debt restructuring; syndicated loans; export credit agency financings; co-financings with multilateral financial institutions; privatisation transactions; and asset management operations for central banks.

Financing Transactions:
Arnold & Porter represents clients in a range of financing transactions, including capital markets, lending, project finance, and derivatives. The firm has represented clients as issuers and borrowers in industries such as banking, consumer products, real estate, computer, communications, construction, consumer goods, resorts, airline, agribusiness, energy, mining, healthcare, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, printing, and publishing. The firm’s work has included medium-term note programs and Euro medium-term note programs as well as initial public offerings, Rule 144A and Regulation S debt and equity offerings, commercial paper programs, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered, Eurobond and other foreign offerings, municipal bond financings, asset-backed securities offerings, syndicated loans, and export credit agency financings.

Corporate Transactions:
Arnold & Porter has assisted clients in acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures in Latin America for decades. The firm’s experience includes work on behalf of foreign investors undertaking strategic and financial acquisitions in Latin America and Latin American entities entering into transactions as sellers with foreign investors. The firm also represents investment funds with activities in Latin America and is involved in significant real estate transactions and private sector workouts and debt restructurings.

International Trade:
The firm handles the full range of international and national legal issues arising from the increasing global trade in goods and services. The practice encompasses international trade regulation and disputes, from advising governments and private parties in free-trade negotiations, to litigating disputes before the World Trade Organisation (WTO), to handling import dispute cases worldwide, including antidumping, countervailing duty, and Section 337 intellectual property infringement cases. For example, the firm has represented the Chilean salmon industry and the Colombian flower industry in international trade proceedings. The firm also counsels companies in all areas of US international trade compliance, with regard to both exports and imports.

Regulatory Matters:
Arnold & Porter has a broad range of regulatory practices which it has deployed on behalf of clients doing business in the United States and in Latin America. The firm has assisted Latin American financial institutions in obtaining holding company status, banking licenses and broker-dealer registration in the United States, and advised on compliance. Arnold & Porter has applied its experience in telecommunications, internet and media, pharmaceutical regulatory, antitrust, and environmental law on behalf of many clients in the region. The firm also has considerable experience with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations and compliance training in Latin America.

Fraud & Corporate Investigations:
Arnold & Porter is at the forefront of global anti-corruption defence in Latin America, adept with issues under the FCPA and the UK Bribery Act, and other American, British, and Latin American local anti-bribery laws and regulations. The integrated team of over 60 attorneys represents global leaders—ranked among the Fortune 100 and Fortune 500, and the Financial Times Global 100 and Global 500—in diverse industries that span electronics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, media, financial services, defence and aerospace, hospitality, retail, medical equipment, energy, chemicals, manufacturing, extractive, and insurance, on anti-corruption issues involving operations in more than 85 countries worldwide.