PRACTICE AREAS

Vacío
CORPORATE - MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Our corporate practice hinges on key issues regarding the different stages of the creation and administration of partnerships as needed by our transnational clients. These clients require permanent consulting in order to avoid or resolve conflicts, to minimise risks upon transfers of stock or partnership interests, to correctly handle and accurately assess corporate flows when choosing between equity and debt, and to design the best policies for management of profits. We have an interdisciplinary team conducting processes including: formation of partnerships and establishment of branches of foreign partnerships; partnership reorganisation; articles of association; bookkeeping and accounting; partnership dissolution and liquidation.

Our experts, lawyers and accountants form a team capable of providing consultancy services in mergers and acquisitions. The Firm is regarded as being among the best both by colleagues and clients in the practices above. We have outstanding expertise in the areas of private company acquisition, independent assets, establishment of partnerships, capitalization and shareholder agreements.

Through providing services for our clients, we have developed expertise in areas related to commercial agents, such as distribution relationships, agency and franchises. We provide both commercial law and civil law consultancy in joint ventures, trust funds, lease agreements, contractor agreements, services agreements and auditing.

LABOUR, SOCIAL SECURITY AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

We offer services in the area of individual labour law, social security and collective labour law. We supplement the more traditional side of labour consulting with payroll services, proceedings under the Social Security authority and the Labour Ministry. This is carried out by an interdisciplinary team of professionals with a background in law and accounting.

Our legal team has ample expertise in collective bargaining of various sectors, including commerce and industry. We have also contributed to the resolution of difficult conflicts involving sensitive organised labour situations such as road-picketing and sit-down strikes.

We support our clients in day-to-day developments, both in and out of court, in areas including hiring, work and training agreements, implementation of labour regulations and labour policies, salary and benefits structure, and accounting of overtime wages, paid vacations, severance pay, among others.

LITIGATION AND ARBITRATION

Our litigation team has had sustained and successful practice. We have provided counsel to our clients in areas such as administrative appeals, invalidity actions, legal actions in civil law, commercial law, labour, tax, administrative law and others, and arbitration proceedings.

In latter years, as our international consulting area has grown, the firm has participated actively in arbitration proceedings in various places, including France and the United Kingdom.

TAX LAW

We provide tax consultancy services. Our lawyers, accountants and notaries have a full understanding of our clients’ businesses. Designing the corporate policy that best suits the tax benefits available both nationally and internationally is a matter of daily practice.

Among other services, we provide tax litigation counsel, application of treaties to avoid double taxation, and day-to-day management of taxes, including those pertaining to social security and human resources.

Our Accounting Department offers advice in routine national taxes, tax planning at national and international level, tax statements and dividend policy, as well as the overall handling of accounting.

CORPORATE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICES

We provide personalised, creative counsel geared towards finding new business opportunities while maximising fiscal efficiency through the use of appropriate legal instruments.

Our team offers a whole approach regarding compliance with current regulations in the fiscal, corporate, accounting and payroll areas. We are a one-stop shop where our clients can centralise all their management and compliance needs.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS, SOFTWARE AND DATA

We have advised many international clients regarding complex practice areas such as those linked to telecommunications and technology-related businesses. Due to the new regulations affecting the audiovisual business, we have recently worked for international clients which include content production and radio broadcasting companies.

Our activity connects several different aspects of telecommunications regulations. In the realm of mass media, we provide consultancy services which integrate various actors from the media industry. This requires a dynamic approach on our part.

We have strong ties both with companies which launch their products via Internet platforms and with world-class players in the software, personal data and e-commerce areas.

Our team of professionals is at the top of the game in topics such as the application of regulations and administrative precedent relating to data protection, contractual protection of confidential information, implication of the Habeas Data Act in the operations of local and international clients, handling of and restrictions to telephone conversation recordings, access to email, and other instances of information monitoring.

REAL STATE

We offer comprehensive consultancy and assistance services in all kinds of real estate transactions, from structuring, bargaining, documentation and closing. Our team includes partners with vast experience in other practice areas.

Throughout the years, we have contributed to clients’ implementation and structuring of investment projects in different business areas, such as agribusiness, forestry, the dairy industry, logistics and shopping malls.

We have taken part in these businesses in various ways. Mainly through our partners in the notarial and financial areas, we have carried out the structuring of real estate transactions, lease agreements, contractor and services agreements, condominiums, purchase agreements, trust funds, research of property history, mortgages, loans, land-use regulations and condominiums’ rules, among others.

AGRIBUSINESS

We are counsel to agribusiness companies of several types, among them, agricultural cooperatives and partnerships, agricultural societies, companies in the dairy industry, grain traders and forestry companies.

Our services include consultancy in complex issues, from funding to various agribusiness contracts. We also assist our clients in structuring, bargaining and closing of complex land purchase transactions.

We strive for our clients to receive the best possible legal advice. To this end, our lawyers deal directly with people in agricultural businesses, financial planners, real estate agents, appraisers and agribusiness operations financiers, as well with the government agencies concerned with this area of business.

ENERGY, RENEWABLE RESOURSES AND INFRASTRUCTURE

We advise our clients in the implementation of projects relating to the supply of energy from renewable resources, such as water resources, ethanol, biomass, biofuels and, in particular, wind power. We provide consultancy in the application for government permits for suppliers of renewable energy and in the drafting and execution of energy purchase agreements with the national Electric Energy Board (UTE).

We have an active part in the chambers directly or indirectly related to energy providers in Uruguay, both large and small. We have provided consultancy services relating to agreements and regulations, both at national and international level, for the only company trading in electric energy in the country.

We have provided support for our clients in the overall process of many infrastructure projects, whether in the roads, ports or railways sector, taking into account the most efficient judiciary and financial pathways, both in the public and private sectors.

We have the necessary expertise to follow through complex proceedings and permit applications in government agencies. We also act as legal agents in our clients’ daily contact with the government, including their legal representation in the event of administrative appeals. We advise and prepare our clients regarding calls for bids and other contracts with the government.

AVIATION

Our work in this practice area includes day-to-day consultancy for companies in the logistics business as well as cargo and passenger carriers.

We have vast experience in the daily operations of airlines, including the Uruguayan Aviation Regulations (RAU), and the aspects of labour and tax law applicable to aviation. We also facilitate aircraft registration, operating licenses, applications for certificates for foreign aircraft, among a wide range of contracts and agreements relating to acquisition and guarantee.

We actively participate in the business by providing consultancy services to logistics companies in free-trade zones.

FINANCE

We have provided advice in financial transactions to national and international clients, both individual and corporate, in funding loans with and without collateral. Due to our dealings in banking, we possess outstanding expertise in the negotiation of banking and financial transactions such as loans, trust funds, leasings and others.

CORPORATE IMMIGRATION

We facilitate the proceedings related to our clients’ need to bring human resources into Uruguay from other countries, including visa applications, whether temporary, permanent or for the Mercosur, as well as other labour documentation (hojas de trabajo).