Thursday, 3rd November 2011 by Rosie CresswellWith the environment taking centre stage in political agendas and corporate image management, demand for environmental lawyers has never been higher. Rosie Cresswell profiles the leaders in the practice in Latin America
Under increasing pressure to prove to voters his self-appointed title of defender of Mother Earth, Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to scrap a highway that would cut through an ecological reserve in the Amazon - bowing to pressure from indigenous Bolivians who marched into La Paz in late October after months of protests against construction of the road.
Rarely does a week go by without a high profile, usually controversial project attracting the attention of the media in one Latin American country or another because of its environmental impact. Earlier that same month, an appeals court in Chile allowed the construction of the US$3.5 billion HidroAysén hydropower plant to go ahead after injunctions filed by opposition over the project′s environmental impact on Patagonia′s rivers and valleys. The frequent injunctions against Brazil′s "monster" hydroelectric Belo Monte Dam and the regular uprisings over mining and oil projects in Peru are other examples of what happens when economic and environmental needs collide.
Morales had hoped the BNDES-funded road - running through Bolivia from Brazil to the Pacific Ocean - would boost economic growth in what is one of Latin America’s poorest nations. But indigenous communities, which make up over half of the country’s population, feared the route would bring oil and gas companies and illegal loggers in to destroy the bio diverse region. Chile, meanwhile, is in dire need of diversifying its energy sources - as the recent blackout that enveloped much of the country and disrupted the operations of copper mines (the country’s biggest source of income) demonstrates so well. Energy projects like HidroAysén are essential for meeting the country’s energy needs, but they routinely come up against fierce environmental opposition.
These kinds of polemics make for challenging and high profile work for environment lawyers, but even for everyday operations, environmental legal advice is something companies regularly require. Since environment laws entered Latin America – mostly during the 1990s – help is needed with environmental compliance, audits and risk assessments, industries have to dispose of hazardous waste correctly, and companies in a multitude of sectors are required to seek environmental permits and licences for a multitude of projects – compelling environment lawyers to devise software to help clients manage such requirements.
The environment is at the forefront of the public’s interest and of political agendas – not least in the Obama administration. As the world’s governments implement initiatives to combat climate changes, there are new opportunities in carbon credit trading, for example.
All of this means the practice of environment law is of rising importance, which is why Latin Lawyer has compiled a list of leading names across Latin America.
Environmental lawyers are found in boutiques and full service law firms and there are strong arguments for each model. A boutique affords lawyers the opportunity for deep specialism, while companies find environmental departments attached to full service firms beneficial because the area of law is so complementary to other practice areas – not least natural resources and real estate.
A number of countries are home to lawyers who pioneered the practice of environment law, and they are highly respected names today. But as the practice is still comparatively young, environment departments are often headed by associates who have specialised in the field throughout their career; and because of the area’s complementary nature, it is common to see partners in other areas providing the service in firms that do not have standalone practices. As such, we believe there are both associates and partners who may not dedicate 100 per cent of their practice to environment law who deserve a place on this list.
ARGENTINA
For companies operating in Argentina, the most pressing issues relating to environment legislation are compliance, legal auditing and litigation. Argentina’s environment law was enacted in 1990; as such, the country’s environmental legal community is comparatively small, with a handful of lawyers at partner level who are dedicated to the field. For a large number of full service firms, it remains a complementary area for core groups rather than a standalone department, meaning it’s common to see partners in other practice areas providing environment advice. There are a number of rising stars at associate level, indicating the market is set to grow larger.
The environment team of Rattagan, Macchiavello, Arocena & Peña Robirosa is led by name partner Gabriel Macchiavello, whose long career in the field has seen him advise Argentina’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Human Environment, serve the country’s environmental law department in the clean up of contaminated rivers, and assist the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He comes especially recommended for litigation work and has a team of up and coming associates, not least Marianna Hierro.
Estudio Bec is the most prominent environment boutique in the country. The firm was founded in 1994 by Eugenia Bec, who has been a legal adviser to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the IADB, and Argentina’s Ministry of Economy & Public Works and Services. Horacio Franco joined four years later from DuPont, the science-based products group. Both partners, Bec focuses on consultancy work while Franco heads up auditing and a litigation area that encompasses judicial preventive actions, tort, clean up and enforcement claims. They are flanked by eight associates.
Guillermo Malm Green has been practising environment law for over a decade and developed Brons & Salas’s practice group. Malm Green has a deep practice and his team stands out over full service firms offering environment advice as an extension of other areas of law. The firm has five lawyers dedicated to environment matters, who work with the firm’s other departments in certain cases and have their own focuses: helping companies comply with the equator principles and initiatives regarding the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. Associate Ángeles Murgier is a rising star.
Horacio Payá, partner of full service firm Nicholson y Cano Abogados, comes very recommended too. He provides preventative advice, assists in compliance and due diligence, among others. Payá combines his practice with natural resources work. Laura Lavia Haidempergher, partner at M & M Bomchil, does environmental work alongside the complementary areas of real estate and M&A. Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal, Argentina’s largest firm, has an associate dedicated to the practice, Federico Deyá, who often works alongside partner Francisco Macías in particular given his focus on natural resources, infrastructure and other related areas.
BOLIVIA
While Bolivian President Evo Morales has campaigned before the United Nations to see “Mother Earth” given the same rights as humans, his country is home to few environment lawyers – although that is more indicative of the size of its economy and legal community than anything else. The environment is closely linked to the country’s development as the recent flare drawing an end to the construction of a highway through the jungle proves. Bolivian firms with strong hydrocarbons practice groups have particular experience in the area. The country’s largest firm, Moreno Baldivieso Estudio de Abogados, has an environment team that covers regulation, licences and environmental impact among other issues. The team recently helped a group of investors with a logging project and worked on a Reduction of Emissions due to Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) project. Meanwhile, at the country’s second biggest, C R & F Rojas Abogados, Sandra Salinas comes recommended.
BRAZIL
The need for environment lawyers in Brazil is growing. The country’s public prosecutor comes down hard on companies that are not up to speed with their environmental compliance, particularly in the last five years. This is putting pressure on companies and forcing government agencies into action.
Meanwhile, no one with even a slight interest in Latin American business will have missed the energy companies crowding into Brazil and with investment in energy comes environmental compliance; Petrobras, the country’s state-owned oil company, has its own team of environmental lawyers in-house and those companies that don’t are crying out for external assistance. Alongside all this, the media has thrown the environment into the spotlight, making corporates conscious of their image in the face of lenders and investors.
So demand is high and Brazilian firms are well aware of this, but incorporating an environmental practice here is not straightforward, mainly because there is not enough expertise to go round. The state of São Paulo is an important centre for environment law, being home to the environmental courts.
Anyone interested in the evolution of environment law in Brazil would do well to study the career path of Édis Milaré. A former justice attorney, he helped set up São Paulo’s environment courts in 1985 and has worked alongside the environmental prosecutor. He contributed to the chapter of Brazil’s 1988 constitution that refers to the area and was secretary of environment for São Paulo state from 1992 to 1995, during which time he prepared the national environment code. As such, Milaré is perhaps Brazil’s most recognised and established environment practitioner, and today he heads the country’s leading environment boutique, Milaré Advogados. A dozen lawyers work with him and he employs a team of non-lawyers including an engineer and a geologist.
Antonio José Monteiro also has a long career trajectory earning him the description of a “senior statement of the field in Brazil”. He set up Pinheiro Neto Advogados’ practice group in 1989 – a pioneering move among full service firms. Two decades on it counts 19 lawyers, of which three are partners. The other two are Werner Grau Neto, who does consulting and climate change work, and Fernando Penteado de Castro, who oversees emissions and the dispute side of things – particularly for carmakers. This large team – certainly the biggest among Brazil’s full service firms – provides the full spectrum of general environmental services, as well as more specialist services such as carbon credits and bio-technology, and maintains a close relationship with the country’s environmental institutions.
Other full service firms had the prescience to set up environment departments in the 1990s. One was TozziniFreire Advogados, whose environment practice dates back to 1997. Partner Adriana Mathias Baptista’s practice extends just as far back and during that time she has built a stand-alone group with four further lawyers working exclusively on environment matters. Baptista’s areas of expertise include audits, risk assessments, environmental liability and strategic planning of projects. Demarest e Almeida Advogados was another early starter. Luiz Fernando Henry Sant’Anna heads the team of five lawyers who contribute time to the field. Areas of focus are environmental licensing and impact studies, permitting and climate change, and the team leverages off Demarest e Almeida’s large litigation team. Also early to the party was Trench, Rossi e Watanabe Advogados. Partner Ana Beatriz Kesselring oversees the practice from São Paulo with two associates, and there are also lawyers in Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. The team counts eight lawyers in total. Kesselring, who joined the partnership in 2008, is especially visible in litigation. The firm works on high profile contamination and landfill cases for clients such as energy company Shell and Gillette, the producer of men’s grooming products. A European client praises her “extensive experience.”
Among Brazil’s other full service firms, Veirano Advogados has a large, noted team coordinated by partner Henry Lummertz, which counts 10 lawyers across its offices in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. Bibiana Silva and Ana Luci are especially recommended among the associates. Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados counts partner Roberta Danelon Leonhardt – described by a client as a very serious and competent lawyer with deep knowledge of environmental matters – in its partnership. She works with three associates. Meanwhile, Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados’ Eduardo Damião Gonçalves combines environment law with a leading arbitration practice and works with dedicated associates. Partner Oscar Graça Couto of Lobo & Ibeas Advogados is another respected player in the field, while KLA Advogados hired the well-regarded Grace Dalla Pria as its environment partner in May, who has a long career on the public side including a stint as legal head for Brazil’s environment institute, IBAMA, in Rondônia. Souza, Cescon, Barrieu & Flesch Advogados partner Carlos Braga combines arbitration with environment law alongside associate Heloisa Verri Paulino, who dedicates her time to the area.
At Siqueira Castro - Advogados partner Simone Paschoal Nogueira is dedicated to the field and Leite, Tosto e Barros Advogados Associados counts Tiago Mackey Martins as a corporate partner who practises environment law. Other corporate firms with environmental partners include Bichara, Barata, Costa & Rocha Advogados, via Antonio Augusto Rebello Reis; Doria, Jacobina, Rosado e Gondinho Advogados partner Maria Alice Doria has a long career in environment law and was previously a member of Vale’s in-house team.
There are also a number of noteworthy rising stars in Brazil. Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão is building its team with well-made hires at associate level. In 2010, Miriam Mazza Köpke Quadros joined from Shell and Bruno Gomes de Oliveira came to the firm after a stint at APESA, a French technology and environmental risk institute. Fabricio Soler, an associate, is developing Felsberg, Pedretti e Mannrich Advogados e Consultores Legais’ team and gaining recognition in solid waste matters. Lefosse Advogados counts associate Paula Chaccur de Cresci, while Luiz Gustavo Bezerra, also an associate, heads Tauil & Chequer - affiliated with Mayer Brown LLP′s environment practice.
There are other boutiques dedicated to environment law too, not least Tabet Advogados, set up by Fernando Tabet – the former head of environment at Mattos Filho. Paulo de Bessa Antunes, of Rio de Janeiro-based environment boutique Bessa Antunes Advogados, is also very well-known. Bruna Lagreca Acerbi has her own firm, Acerbi Advogados, in São Paulo, while Freitas Penteado Sociedade de Advogados is another environment boutique, with partners Luis Fernando de Freitas Penteado and Oswaldo dos Santos Lucon. Pinheiro Pedro Advogados advises in environmental, regulatory and institutional law, and sees Antonio Fernando Pinheiro Pedro do government-related work.
Firms beyond Rio and São Paulo offer the service: Rolim, Viotti & Leite Campos Advogados partners Marciano Seabra de Godoi and Luciana Goulart Ferreira Saliba combine environment with tax and energy in Belo Horizonte and Carneiro & Souza Advogados Associados is a natural resources firm in Minas Gerais with partner Ricardo Carneiro focusing on environment having been on the municipal council of Belo Horizonte COMAM and a former adviser to a number of environmental state bodies.
CENTRAL AMERICA
In the Central American region, environmental legal advice is most frequently needed for tourism, energy and industrial projects. Lawyers tend to combine environmental law with other areas of practice rather than specialising. El Salvador and Costa Rica are home to most of the region’s more prominent names. Arias & Muñoz, which has one of the most established regional presences, has an environment practice area led by Eduardo Angel, partner in the El Salvador office. He has been practising environmental law for seven years, giving advice on due diligence, permitting and ISO 14001 certification. Lawyers also practice environment law in the offices in Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Consortium Centro América Abogados, another of the most regionally recognised firms, counts associate Miguel Tomas Contreras in its El Salvador branch – the country’s first legal director of the environment ministry. In Costa Rica, BLP Abogados partner Mauricio Salas combines environment law with his trade and corporate practice, while Facio & Cañas, also a Costa Rican firm, sees Kathya Araya offer the full spectrum of services related to environment law – from conservation to maritime matters.
CHILE
Change is afoot in Chile’s environment sector thanks to a major overhaul of its institutions and legislation. Former president Michelle Bachelet introduced an environment bill in 2008 to reorganise the sector’s authorities. Previously there was an environment commission, CONAMA (at which many lawyers on this list have worked), but the new law introduces a ministry, a supervisory enforcement agency and an environmental impact-assessment agency. The most important development is the creation of environmental courts, which Congress is discussing at the moment.
Unsurprisingly, all this has impacted the local legal market. In the past, environmental work was reactionary and largely related to accidents; but when the new courts are up and running, companies will face bigger fines and sanctions – which means more prevention work for lawyers. As a result, the environmental legal community is expanding, with a number of larger firms building their practice groups. Among Santiago’s full service firms there are a handful that can claim to have had an environmental team for some time, and plenty that have traditionally strong natural resources teams headed by partners that are proficient in environment law but not devoted to the area. A number of these have formalised their environment service offer more recently. There are also boutiques specialised in the practice, although natural resources firms with environmental law as a complementary offer are more common.
Vergara Galindo Correa Abogados is by far the most prominent environmental boutique in Chile, practising in all environmental fields including forestry, sanitation, indigenous communities, land use and litigation. The firm has also recently incorporated criminal law in the run up to the new courts. It stands at 11 lawyers, four of which are partners. Javier Vergara, the face of the firm, founded it in 2005, having practised environment law since 1991. He is a former general counsel of CONAMA. The increasingly visible Mario Galindo also worked in the government before joining the firm in 2008. He conducted CONAMA’s legal defence and is now frequently seen on the country’s biggest environment litigations. The final name partner, Eduardo Correa, has also held a number of governmental positions, while the youngest, José Luis Fuenzalida, has a particular focus on electricity and water.
Of the full service firms, Philippi, Yrarrázaval, Pulido & Brunner has one of the oldest and largest environment teams, headed by partner Juan José Eyzaguirre. The group counts 10 associates working on all environment related issues. Being attached to one of Chile’s foremost transactional firms means Eyzaguirre’s team often steps in on M&A work. He led the environmental work when Quinenco bought Shell’s Chilean fuel business. The team is also leading one of the country’s biggest polemics: representing Enel and Enap in courts over a geothermal project that exploded in a tourist area.
Gonzalo Cubillos has succeeded in quickly building a well-regarded team at Barros & Errázuriz Abogados, another prominent dealmaking firm. Cubillos, a partner and also from CONAMA, has real-estate and urban planning experience, and is considered a key player among peers. He has been advising Centrales Hidroeléctricas de Aysén in the controversial HidroAysén megaproject to build five hydroelectric power plants in the Aysen region. Colbún is another client.
FerradaNehme was in the recent wave of firms waking up to environmental law, hiring Patricio Leyton as partner from well-respected Urrutia & Cia to build on its existing pillars of regulatory, public and administrative law. Leyton combines his practice with natural resources work and worked the Pascua Lama mining project – controversial because of its proximity to glaciers – at his previous firm. He works with five associates. José Antonio Urrutia of Urrutia & Cia has a long history in environmental work in connection to the mining and natural resources focus of his firm. He heads up the work on the aforementioned Pascua Lama project. The firm’s environmental practice is overseen by two well-regarded associates, Valeria Ruz and Francisca Olivares, who took over from Leyton. Their work is largely connected to mining work given the direction of the firm, which counts Canada’s Barrick as a major client. Natural resources boutique Carcelén & Cía recently scooped the most recent chief counsel of CONAMA, Rodrigo Guzmán Rosen, who had been with the commission since 1998 and is consequently both a well-informed and well-regarded lawyer.
The bulk of Chile’s leading full service firms offer environmental law services in some form, often through partners that also practice other areas of law – for example natural resources and regulatory law – or through departments led by an associate dedicated to the practice. Claro y Cía’s environment work is undertaken by well-regarded partner Nicolás Eyzaguirre, who also practices in other areas. At Guerrero, Olivos, Novoa y Errázuriz, two associates are dedicated to environment work; perhaps the most visible is Clemente Pérez, a former deputy secretary of public works. Joining him is Martín Santa María, who has a reputation for being a hard worker. At Cariola, Diez, Pérez-Cotapos & Cía Ltda, name partner Carlos Pérez-Cotapos combines environmental law with a strong mining practice, alongside partner Gonzalo Jiménez, who heads the regulatory law group, which also encompasses environment law. The team also counts associate Martín Astorga. At Carey y Cía, Chile’s largest firm, three prominent partners – Juan Francisco Mackenna, Rafael Vergara and Alberto Cardemil – incorporate environment law into their natural resources and energy practices. Litigation head Gonzalo Fernández scored a recent victory before the Supreme Court to uphold an authorisation made by CONAMA before the new authorities came into force for client Electroaustral’s hydropower project to go ahead. Baker & McKenzie partner Antonio Ortuzar Jr has leveraged off his deep natural resource practice to offer services in the area and earlier this year, Prieto y Cía brought in Alejandro Ruiz, who previously held government positions, as an associate to head the practice.
Other names of note include Martin Gubbins of CorreaGubbins, who has an environment practice among other practice areas of focus and is viewed as a good litigator. At Arteaga Gorziglia & Cía Abogados, a firm of 11 lawyers, partner Ignacio Arteaga leads the environment and regulatory practice and is joined by associate Iván Poklepovic, former head of the environmental unit of the National Defence Council. Grasty Quintana Majlis & Cía founder Alejandro Quintana works with TNC and WWF on the creation of incentives to encourage and finance conservation projects in Chile. Núñez, Muñoz y Cía Ltda, a small, very well-received mining boutique, has naturally gone into this area of law too. Fernando Molina, who trained under Cubillos at Barros & Errázuriz is a recognised name who very recently joined the smaller Fermandois, Evans y Cía.
Among the smaller firms with strong natural resources practices are Juan Carlos Urquidi of Urquidi, Riesco & Cía Abogados.
COLOMBIA
Colombia’s strongest environmental lawyers are found in boutiques specialising in that area alongside natural resources and energy. Given the burgeoning interest among foreign investors in these industries, it could be that full service firms will soon build the practice too.
Mining and energy boutique Suárez Zapata Partners Abogados has one of Colombia’s largest environment legal teams. José Vicente Zapata Lugo is the go-to name; his reputation attracts a big chunk of the multinational oil and gas and energy multinationals operating in the country. He founded Colombia’s institute of environmental law and is also the firm’s mining head. Zapata and his two environment lawyers work with an in-house technical team on environment and natural mining matters, while co-founder Gustavo Suárez is one of the leading energy names in the country. This is a new firm, but the team has been working together for far longer.
Luis Fernando Macías Gómez of Macías Gómez & Asociados is another very prominent name who was formerly the legal head of the Colombian ministry of environment. He now heads a five-person boutique that offers specialist legal advice in the full range of environment issues in the country.
A small number of Colombia’s full service firms have environmental practitioners. Partner Álvaro José Rodríguez, an adviser to the ministry of environment during the Kyoto negotiations, is building the team at Posse, Herrera & Ruiz with his natural resources and energy practice, while Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados SA counts associate Lina Uribe García, by all accounts a rising star. Juan Pablo Concha of Baker & McKenzie is building his name in the area too.
ECUADOR
Given the country’s wealth in natural resources, lawyers practising in that field have incorporated environment law into their service offer as a result and the market remains small. Pérez, Bustamante & Ponce Abogados has an environment team headed by partner Jaime Zaldumbide, who has worked in the area since 2003 (alongside natural resources matters). Accompanying him are two lawyers, including Juan Pablo Ortiz, who handles environmental litigation. Maria Amparo Alban, who has devoted her career to environment law, also deserves a place on this list. She is part of the regionwide ACD Consulting. Meanwhile Coronel & Pérez partner Jorge Sicouret’s practice extends to environment law although he is better known for his disputes work.
MEXICO
Mexico’s environmental legal community is by no means limited to the Distrito Federal; the maquilas in the north require assistance with industrial and hazardous waste while in the Yucatán Peninsula – which attracts tourists in their droves in part to its protected nature reserves – real estate projects don’t get started until an environment lawyer has been hired. As such, strong environment practitioners can be found in Cancún and Ciudad Juárez, as well as Mexico City.
In Mexico, three practitioners are largely considered by the market as the pioneers of environment law: Luis Vera, Humberto Celis and Leopoldo Burguete. Their long career paths have crossed on more than one occasion – at one point the trio had a boutique together – but ultimately they have chosen different models for their practice. Luis Vera is now part of Vera & Carvajal, the environment law boutique he founded a decade ago with Octavo Carvajal. The firm began in industry and has expanded into energy, mining, roads, tourism and infrastructure, and brought in technical expertise. The 23-lawyer outfit also employs engineers and biologists. Vera is a consultant to the Mexican government and handles arbitration and energy work, as well as matters relating to NGOS and civil society. Carvajal came into environment law a little later in his career but is now well-known for his litigation and administrative law proficiency. Leopoldo Burguete opted for the support of a full service firm; González Calvillo, SC. Today his team stands at one partner and six environmental lawyers, whose specialisms include water remediation, natural resources, energy and environmental permits. The group is working on three power plant generation projects, does environmental litigation and helps clients with payment mechanisms to make them carbon neutral. More recently, the team has been helping companies like Nissan that are looking to establish manufacturing plants in Mexico as a way to minimise risk after the tsunami. A peer describes Burguete as a lawyer “who knows his business”. Humberto Celis has his own boutique, Celis Aguilar Álvarez y Asociados, SC. Celis, who once worked at state-owned oil company Pemex, is the senior partner and works with three junior partners. The firm has offices in Mexico City, Cancún and an outpost in San Antonio, Texas. The firm handles diverse trials and amparos against closures and shutdowns over environmental issues in the mining sector imposed by Mexico’s federal environmental attorney and obtained the first injunction applicable to environmental cases in Mexico. It also advises US clients on their legal responsibility relating to trans-border pollution.
Of the younger generation, Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez partner Carlos de Icaza is perhaps as highly regarded as the above. De Icaza rebuilt Creel’s environment team after a stint in the US during which he wrote a thesis on NAFTA environment issues. Initially, the practice grew from work sourced from the existing clients of what is one of Mexico’s leading transactional firms, although de Icaza began with standalone clients such as US conglomerate General Electric and has since included litigation and permitting work. He is seen as highly professional with noted experience in real estate work. Baker & McKenzie’s practice head, partner Federico Ruanova, is another very prominent member of the community. He is based in Tijuana where he advises industrial and manufacturing companies, but he assists clients across the country, including resort developers in Cancún. A highly regarded lawyer, Ruanova focuses solely on environmental law – covering all areas – and has been practising for more than two decades. His team includes two associates in Mexico City.
Daniel Basurto González, who heads environmental boutique IDEAS Iniciativa para el Desarrollo Ambiental y Sustentable SC, is also considered to be one of the most established environmental names in Mexico, with many years of experience under his belt. He is noted for his litigation and lobbying skills in particular, and has a strong Mexican client base. At Solórzano, Carvajal, González, Pérez-Correa, environment law is handled by recognised partner Gustavo Carvajal as part of his administrative practice. Carvajal is engaged in litigation before Mexico’s Supreme Court over a dispute between the city of Tulum and the federal government over urban development, and advises a company on installing bicycles for public use in Mexico City. Sergio Bustamante Acuña, a partner of LexCorp Abogados, has a good reputation. Based in Ciudad Juárez, he has a strong line in assisting maquiladores in Mexico’s north and is considered an experienced lawyer who peers are happy to see on the other side of the table. He has been practising environmental occupational health and safety law for over two decades, and has represented clients in matters relating to hazardous waste, environmental audits and deals with remediation of contaminated sites.
Edward Ranger, of counsel at Jáuregui y Navarrete, SC, specialises in environmental law – including renewable energy and climate change – in all sectors where such issues arise. Ranger has worked on Arizona’s climate change and waste projects. Santamarina y Steta was one of the original full service firms to offer environmental law, and once counted Vera and Celis Aguilar as practice heads. Since their departure, partner Gloria Park has been building an environmental practice out of her experience in real estate and making good inroads by all accounts, although her work is largely for the wider firm’s industrial clients.
Among other full service firms, Goodrich, Riquelme y Asociados has two associates practising environment law: Gabriela González-Merla (the firm’s Paris representative and recognised for climate change matters) and Alberto Silva. Both are noted practitioners. At Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa SC, associate Brenda Audrey Rogel Salgado oversees the practice after the former partner left for an in-house role, while Galicia Abogados associate Mariana Herrero is building a department there.
PANAMA
Panama’s environment legislation entered into force in 1998 along with the National Environmental Authority (ANAM). Today this means companies are required to provide environmental impact studies, carry out audits, apply for licences and permits, and generally meet standards laid out by the environment law and its regulator. Several firms in Panama provide these services to clients, usually through partners who practice in other areas too.
Morgan & Morgan is especially well-placed to assist in this area given it counts Carlos Ernesto González Ramírez, co-author of Panama’s environment regulations, on its partnership. He works alongside partner Ramón Varela, who has seen AES through the development and financing of a hydropower project in the country. Icaza, González-Ruiz & Alemán’s environmental service falls under its wider energy and administrative practice, with hydro and transport key areas. Stand-out work includes helping an eco resort development in a bio-diverse part of the country. Three partners – Joel Medina, Alexis Herrera Jr and Joaquín Díaz – belong to this department. At Galindo, Arias & López, partner Cristina Lewis de la Guardia assists infrastructure and real estate and tourism clients with their environment needs as well as practicing commercial and administrative law. Other firms offering advise in this area include Arosemena Noriega & Contreras via partner José Miguel Navarrete, Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee and Alfaro Ferrer & Ramirez.
PARAGUAY
In Paraguay, lawyers provide environmental legal assistance to companies operating in the country’s agribusiness and livestock sectors and help obtain environmental licences – compulsory for developing projects in numerous sectors in Paraguay. Like the country’s economy, the environmental legal community is small. Berkemeyer Attorneys & Counselors’ three-lawyer team – Yolanda Pereira, Lourdes Breuer and Guillermina María Basaglia – helps clients with licences and permitting as well as compliance matters. Vouga & Olmedo also provides environmental advice – in due diligence, compliance, permitting and other matters.
PERU
Environmental law in Peru only really materialised in the 1990s, borne out of complaints related to mining; the country’s most important – and most regulated – sector. Because of that, its common to see Peruvian firms offer environmental law services as an extension of their mining practices and combine with an energy service offer – another area with complex environment issues. Peru’s purist environmental lawyers would argue that they are able to provide a more ample service offer in an area of law that has expanded far beyond those areas, although there are few of those given the comparative youth of the area. Following the creation of Peru’s environmental ministry in 2008, environmental compliance has grown in importance beyond the traditionally sensitive activities. In Peru, environmental legal complaints are managed through administrative courts so administrative lawyers also have experience in the field.
Lorenzo de la Puente of De La Puente Abogados is perhaps the most experienced environmental lawyer practising in Peru today. He is a recognised name with huge public exposure and a deep practise encompassing the full gamut of sectors this area of law touches and has advised numerous Peruvian ministries on environmental matters. Another of the handful of lawyers in Peru with a substantial number of years focusing on environmental law under his belt is Karim Kahatt, partner at Santiváñez Abogados having merged his environment boutique with the energy, electricity and gas firm in July. Kahatt helps clients like Pacific Rubiales create self-auditing systems to keep track of their environment obligations with software designed by his firm. He is well-known in the market for his intelligence and deep expertise in environmental law. He was formerly at de la Puente before he opened his own boutique and has worked at the World Bank.
Jorge Gutiérrez, a partner of Deustua & Halperin Abogados, is also among the most established names in the environmental legal world. He founded environmental NGO Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (SPDA) and has worked on a UN project to help Latin American countries harmonise their regulation. He joined Deustua & Halperin in 2008 from Estudio Ferrero Abogados where he was also partner and combines his practice with natural resources work. He specialises in environmental protection in extractive and manufacturing industries. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, SPDA’s lawyer today, also belongs on this list.
Ada Alegre, of boutique Ada Alegre Consultores, is another respected member of the environmental community. She has particular knowledge of environment management systems and the mining sector, having worked in the ministry of energy and mines; she’s also worked for an environmental NGO. Because of the breadth of her experience, she provides consultation on projects beyond merely environmental legislation. Her client book is dominated by local clients, but includes overseas government agencies.
Estudio Ferrero Abogados has a partner dedicated to environmental law: Fabiola Capurro. Capurro, who was promoted earlier this year, has more than 15 years experience working in the environmental field and has held a number of relevant government positions, including general director of environmental health at the Ministry of Health and deputy director of environmental mining matters at the Ministry of Energy and Mines. While at Estudio Ferrero she has worked on the high-profile Doe Run bankruptcy case. Estudio Grau has been a training ground for some of the brightest stars practising in Peru’s environmental legal community today. The firm pioneered the practice when it launched the group eight years ago, leveraging off its strength in mining and hydrocarbons and developing a stand-alone team. The firm does not have a partner dedicated to environmental law today. Juan Carlos Escudero is formerly in charge of the team, but even he would say he is a corporate lawyer first and foremost. There are four lawyers dedicated to environment law, the most senior of whom is Vito Verna, who joined earlier this year. He has five years at CONAM, Peru’s environmental regulator, under his belt and was most recently the country’s environmental ombudsman. Grau is one of a handful of firms to have created a software tool to regulate and control companies’ permitting processes.
One of Peru’s leading firms, Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano Abogados, is keen to have a practice that is not dependent on mining business and deliberately developed specialisms in other sectors – agriculture, energy and industrial for example. Being part of one of the largest firms in the country means the team certainly has access to a broad spectrum of practice areas to build their experience – litigation included. The team has five lawyers dedicated to environment law, led by associate Ursula Zavala, who has practised since 2003 and has interned with de la Puente. She works with mining partner Francisco Tong, who has built up experience in the field. Miranda & Amado Abogados set up its environment team in 2009 through Alberto Delgado. Embracing the area fully, it soon became Peru’s first carbon neutral firm. Mining and energy companies in particular would do well turning to Estudio Echecopar, one of Peru’s leading full service firms, for assistance. Associate Patrick Wieland focuses on the area and is viewed as a rising star, although he has only very recently returned to the firm after studying for his masters abroad. Mining partner Valentín Paniagua oversees the area and took on the bulk of the work in his absence, alongside partners Jorge Danós and Eduardo Guevara. Jenny Caldas, partner at Peru’s largest firm, Muñiz Ramírez Pérez-Taiman & Olaya, is known to be developing her expertise in the field, which is a necessary boon to the firm’s strong hydrocarbons and natural resources groups. Luis Felipe Huertas del Pino Cavero, a partner, leads the environmental and mining practice at Osterling Abogados, which has offices in Lima, Cajamarca and Cuzco. While most of his time is devoted to mining clients, he is keen to build the firm’s capabilities in environmental compliance and is working to develop his specialism in Reduction of Emissions due to Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).
Xennia Forno is Rubio, Leguía, Normand & Asociados’ environment partner, an area she combines with her mining practice given its strong cross-over. The full service firm is betting on clients needing advice on climate change matters, hiring Brendan Oviedo as an associate last year. Few in Peru can rival Oviedo’s knowledge in that area since he was part of the country’s team brokering carbon markets and mitigation mechanisms under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This March, he helped Peru’s business funding agency, FONAFE, become the country’s first public company to sell Certified Emission Reductions (CERs).
Adriana Aurazo of Barzola & Asociados is a recognised name in the field with a decade of experience, partly at Estudio Grau where she developed the first legal software for Peru’s environment certification ISO 14001. Barzola & Asociadios combines auditing tax and management consultancy services and is part of Russell Bedford International – a global network of professional service firms. Aurazo is health safety and environment management partner.
URUGUAY
The few environmental lawyers in Uruguay are mainly occupied with helping foreign investors entering the country’s industrial and production sectors obtain permits and comply with regulation – a process that can be frustrated by ill-equipped staff at the associated agencies. In Uruguay, the practice is young – and so, therefore, are its practitioners.
Anabela Aldaz, a consultant at Guyer & Regules, is noted, having focused on environmental law since 2000. She works with two other lawyers helping clients with permits and compliance. Alda helped obtain the environment licences for the Montes del Plata pulp plant. Marcelo Cousillas is a recognised lawyer at Arcia, Storace, Fuentes, Medina Abogados, having helped draft some of the country’s environment legislations and acted as a legal adviser to Uruguay’s national environment agency. Meanwhile there are a number of promising associates that include Julian Ruiz of Ferrere Abogados, Mariana Estrade of Hughes & Hughes, and Andres Supervielle of Posadas, Posadas & Vecino.
VENEZUELA
The Venezuelan government monitors environmental compliance with as much interest as it does other areas, and companies require legal assistance to keep on top of licences and permits.
Baker & McKenzie, the largest full serviced firm in Caracas, offers environment services to clients in all sectors where there is an environmental impact. The firm provides risk assessment and does due diligence among other areas of advice. Maria Eugenia Reyes is the go-to partner here. She combines her practice with agrarian, civil and commercial matters. Rodríguez & Mendoza, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious firms, helps clients with environment compliance via partner Eduardo Michelena, who also works in other areas. Francisco Bolinaga, a founding partner of Bolinaga Levy Márquez & Canova, has had a long run in practising environment law. Before entering private practice, he was a legal adviser to Venezuela’s national institute of parks and to the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources. Benson, Perez Matos, Antakly & Watts counts experienced partner Angela Antakly, who formerly worked for the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources. Ramon Azpura, a corporate partner of WDA Legal, is well informed in environmental permitting in particular.
Methodology
To identify Latin America’s leading environmental lawyers we cast the net wide, calling on Latin Lawyer readers and members of the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA) to nominate the practitioners that have impressed the most. We also drew on our own 12 years of research. We then examined the work of those lawyers and consulted leading professionals in the Latin American environment community in order to reach the definitive list of names found over the previous pages.
(Latin Lawyer 03.11.2011)
(Notícia na Íntegra)