Ecija Abogados

Regional Manager: Mauricio Paris (Costa Rica)

Managing Partners: Gerardo Otero (Chile) Gabriel Dejarden (Dominican Republic), Marcos Palma (Guatemala), Alfredo Navas Duarte (El Salvador), Rosalinda Cruz (Honduras), María Antonieta Fiallos (Nicaragua), Ricardo Chacón (Mexico), Gonzalo González (Ecuador), Jaime Sanabria (Puerto Rico), Luis Eduardo Maneira (Brazil) y Armando Córdoba (Panama), Cecilia Amieva (Uruguay).

Number of partners: 130

Number of other lawyers: >700

Languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Chinese

Firm Overview: 

ECIJA is one of the best multidisciplinary and independent Iberoamerican law firms as well as the firm of choice in TMT and IP. ECIJA has 31 offices in 16 countries (Spain, Portugal, Chile, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Honduras, Puerto Rico and Brazil) and the largest presence of a Spanish firm in Latin America.

Main Areas of Practice: 

Corporate /M&A & Private Equity: 

43 partners; 70 fee earners based in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

ECIJA advices large Spain-based and international corporations, VC and private equity investors in national and cross border transactions. ECIJA has wide expertise in sectors driven by innovation (technology, clean energy, automotive, aerospace, financial services and life sciences).

■ Counsel to The Boeing Company in the acquisition of a stake in Immfly

■ Advice to Jenoptik AG in the acquisition of Interob

■ Counsel to Honeywell Ventures in the Series B financing of Bigfinite

Key Clients: Yahoo, Pfizer, The Boeing Company, Honeywell, M&C Saatchi, Jenoptik AG, and DHL.

IT, Telecoms, Data Protection & Outsourcing:  

27 partners; 60 fee earners based in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

TMT IT is a main area of focus for ECIJA.

■ Advice to Santander Bank in all transactional matters involving technology, and data protection

■ Advice to Mc Donald’s in compliance of privacy and data protection obligations

■ Elaboration of the National Privacy Strategy of the Government of Costa Rica

Key Clients: Mercedes, Google, LVMH Group, Mi- crosoft, Inditex, Michelin, Telefónica, LG Electronics, Bank of Spain.

Dispute Resolution, Litigation & Arbitration: 

32 partners; 110 fee earners based in Spain, Portugal and Latin America

ECIJA represents major clients in relevant cases in dispute resolution in technology, media, telecoms, construction and sports industries. The firm is pioneer in the use of new technologies such as ‘ethical hacking’ aimed to determine the source of criminal acts and collect digital evidence valid in Court proceedings.

■ Representation of Microsoft in Chile before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court

■ Representated MEXICHEM, the biggest com- pany for construction in Central America on ar- bitration

Key Clients: Hiscox, Coca Cola Femsa, British Tele- com, Mercadona, Renault, Atletico de Madrid Club, Spotify, Arthur Andersen, Starlite.

Labour & Employment: 

16 partners; 70 fee earners based in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

ECIJA acts in judicial processes in all matters and in collective bargaining processes and restructurings.

■ Advice to ING Bank on use of technological

■ means policy and digital disconnection policy

■ Advice to Eaolia Renovable on its photovoltaic power plants internalisation

■ Advice to Boomerang TV on an international co- production (Spain-Chile)

Key Clients: Bank of Spain, Melia Hotels, Radisson Hotels, Eolia Energy, Vivanta, Atresmedia, ING Bank, Fremantlemedia, Pfizer, MC & Saatchi.

Tax: 

13 partners; 48 fee earners based in Spain, Portugal, Latin and Central America.

ECIJA advises on tax driven structured finance, leas- ing and collective investment arrangements. The area focuses on corporate and international taxation, corporate reorganisations, e-commerce taxation and tax procedures.

■ Advice to MBDA on the legal and tax implications derived from contracts of supply

■ Advice to DHL (world leader in logistics) on its Indirect taxation policy

Key Clients: Deutsche Bank, DHL Global Forward- ing, Qualitas Energy, Coca-Cola FEMSA, Repsol Foundation, Loewe.

Intellectual Property & Copyrights: 

15 partners; 70 fee earners based in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

ECIJA has the largest, most skilled and diversified (it combines informatic engineers) team in IP.

■ Advice to Toonz Media Group in all its projects in Spain, Europe and Latin America

■ Advice to the UN (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the World Intellectual Property Organization) in aspects related to digital policy in the IP field.

Key Clients: H&M, Fox, Disney, Rakuten TV, Indra, NH Hotels, Ferrovial, Vodafone, Omnicom Media Group.

Energy: 

ECIJA is one of the most recognised and acknowledged law firms in the structuring and development of energy projects in the Central American and Caribbean region. Regulatory aspects related to obtaining licenses and authorisations and contractual aspects of negotiating agreements for electricity purchase with distribution companies.

Key Clients: Iberdrola, Acciona, Enagas, Naturgy, Eolia Energy, EDP Renováveis, Cepsa, Enusa.

Foreign Investment: 

ECIJA is the largest Spanish firm in Latin America, and has the largest alliance between an Asian firm, Grandall Law Firm, and a Western firm, ECIJA, to create a legal network.