Facio & Cañas

President: Adrián Torrealba
Managing Partner: Sergio Solera
Number of partners: 14
Number of associates and of counsel: 25

Firm Overview:
FACIO & CAÑAS was founded in 1942 and since then has provided services with excellence to the local and international community. It is one of the largest and most reputable law firms in Costa Rica.

The firm is the exclusive representative of the following organizations in the country:

Lex Mundi: The world’s leading association of independent law firms (over 21,000 attorneys, 160 law firms and 100+ countries)
Club de Abogados: An association of 21 prime independent law firms from Ibero-America
TerraLex: TerraLex is a network of select leading law firms that serve international clients and the international needs of their local clients.

Practice Areas: 

Arbitration & Mediation:
The firm’s attorneys apply the latest trends in negotiation, mediation, arbitration and other mechanisms for alternative dispute resolution. They represent clients in major arbitration cases and some are also listed as arbitrators in Chamber of Commerce, AMCHAM and other dispute resolution organizations.

General Corporate Representation:
The firm represents a large number of international companies in the process of establishing and keeping a local operation both, under special incentive regimes like the free trade zone and under the regular rules.

Insurance: 
FACIO & CAÑAS’ expertise in regulatory and insurance matters is a valuable asset for those companies with an interest in participating in this industry and those having issues with their insurance policies.

Litigation:
The department is best known for successfully representing clients in complex cases and has the ability of litigating in different jurisdictions and planning strategies that may imply doing so. This is a rare characteristic that distinguishes us in Costa Rica. The department can successfully handle litigation in criminal, civil, administrative law, commercial law, intellectual property and arbitration. It is integrated by a first class professional team who have been working together for many years, in some cases decades and that has successfully represented

Mergers & Acquisitions, International Business & Financial Transactions:
With a vast experience in cross border transactions, the firm has played an active part in some of the largest capital transactions taking place in Costa Rica.

Real Estate:
FACIO&CAÑAS has assisted in the development of new business opportunities and solutions for foreign and national clients in residential, tourism, industrial and commercial projects and transactions.

Tax:
The firm is widely recognized for its expertise on this area, designing sound tax structures for the clients and representing them before the local tax authorities and before court. The firm is also very active representing clients in merger control filings.

Competition:
The firm advises clients on competition matters, litigates anticompetitive conduct cases before the competition authorities and before court. The firm is also very active representing clients in merger control filings.

Specialised Practice Groups: 

Specialised practices in strategic areas of business law:
■ FAYCA MARK: Intellectual Property.
■ FAYCA LABOR: Employment issues with a business oriented focus and litigation.
■ FAYCA IMMIGRATION: Immigration law and ex- patriate personnel relocation.
■ FAYCA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS: Administrative law and government affairs (constitutional and regulatory matters, government litigation, government contracts and public concessions)
■ FAYCA TMT: Telecommunications, media and technology issues (regulatory matters, personal information protection, technology related contracts and compliance with national and international regulation)
■ Consumer protection Litigation before the local agency and before courts.

International Work:
FACIO & CAÑAS has traditionally represented clients in the most significant local and cross border transactions.

Some of the most relevant transactions are:

■ Representing McGraw-Hill in the restructuring of its employment practices and procedures in Central America and Peru
■ Conducting a regional scale study on all environmental regulations related to renewable energy affecting Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic for the Central American Development Bank (CABEI)
■ Representing Smurfit Kappa in the acquisition of two local operations
■ Acquisition of Café Volio by Bia Foods.
■ Merger KPO Alpha and Insol Comercial.
■ Corporate restructuring of FREEWAY CONSULTING GROUP in Latin America and the Caribbean.
■ Incorporation of entity, construction of processing plant and set up operations of Terumo BCT.
■ Merger control filing of acquisition of Multibank by BAC Credomatic.
■ Representing Nevro Corp. in the establishment of a large manufacturing plant in Costa Rica.
■ Representing Conair LLC, that was acquired by American Securities.
■ Representing Boston Consulting Group in the establishment of operations in Costa Rica.
■ Representing Southwest Airlines in starting of operations in Costa Rica.
■ Assisted FUTV in the structuring of soccer games broadcasting from a competition perspective.  

Representative Clients:
AT&T, Access Corp., Advantest America Inc., Alcatel Lucent, Abbott, Alimentos Jack´s, Amway Corporation, American Standard, Amn Healthcare, BAC Credomatic, Banco Prival Bank of America, BAT, BIA Foods, BI Worldwide, BNDES, Bridgestone, Central de Radios, Critical Mass Holding, Caterpillar, Cinemark, CISCO, Coca Cola, Conair LLC, Corporación Arrocera Industrial, Corporación Multiinversiones, Dell, Dole, Diageo, Dole, Ecolab, FMC Corporation, Freeway Consulting Group, Fujitsu, Femsa, FUTV, Gate Retail Onboard General Electric, Hill Phoenix, Ingram Micro, Intertec, JP Morgan Chase, Kellogg, KfW, Laboratorios Raven, Lanco Paints, Matra, Marriott International, McDonald’s, Monte Freshfruit, Nevro Corp, Nomura Bank, Norfund, Oracle, Otis, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Promotora Ambiental, S.A. de CV, Ricoh Company, Repretel, Samsung, Securitas, Sky TV, Southwest Airlines, SmileDirectClub, Smurfit Kappa, St. Jude Medical, Stratus Video, Terumo BCT, UBS, Unilever, Verizon Communications, Vertiv, Walt Disney, Western Union.Airlines, Wal-Mart, Thule AB, S. TOUS, S.L, CROSSFIT INC, FONOTICA, United World Collage (UWC), EARTH University.