Baker McKenzie has launched a Latin America practice based in Miami, kicking off its growth with the hire of counsel Federico Cuadra Del Carmen, who returns to the firm after a year with Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

Cuadra Del Carmen, a cross-border corporate attorney, will be based in Miami and is the first official member of the practice. The firm has formed a steering committee composed of seven attorneys from Baker McKenzie's offices in New York, Miami and Latin America. They will identify the other attorneys who will join the practice.

The steering committee includes Miami and New York office managing partner Scott Brandman; Mexico managing partner Raymundo Enriquez; Miami partner Daniela Fonseca Puggina; Miami partner Cecilia Hassan; Colombia partner Rodrigo Castillo; and Javier Martinez, Baker's director of business development and marketing for Latin America, who is based in Argentina.

The committee is looking to draw from the Miami and New York office for now, with the Latin America-based members of the group acting as advisers on regional trends and client needs. The firm also intends to recruit laterally to further fill out the nascent team.

Brandman said the firm envisions the Miami office as a "hub" between Baker McKenzie's U.S. attorneys and the more than 800 attorneys stationed in 15 offices across Latin America. The new practice is more of a rebranding and refocusing, he said—a way to educate their U.S. clients on investment opportunities in Latin America.

Federico Cuadra Del Carmen Federico Cuadra Del Carmen

"The rebranding recognizes that while we have such a strong Latin America presence, we had not fully taken advantage of our opportunities in making sure we're giving our clients and companies all the resources we have and introducing them into the Latin America market," he said.

Brandman added that the firm is looking to aggressively add Latin America-focused corporate and transactional attorneys to the Miami office, which has shrunk over the years following the death of office founder Bob Hudson in 2015.

Between 2016 and 2018, the office's head count went from 27 to 20 attorneys, according to the Daily Business Review's annual Review 100, and dropped off the list of the 100 largest Florida offices this year.

Brandman acknowledges that corporate attorneys are much coveted in the South Florida market and the supply rarely keeps up with the demand. But the proposition of having such a strong local presence in Latin America, not just a string of independent satellite partners, will draw the talent to the firm.

"Especially if you have a Latin America focus, there's no other firm that can bring a breadth and depth that we have in in the area," he said.

Baker McKenzie's announcement comes three months after Morrison Foerster crashed into the Florida market opening a Miami office with nine Greenberg Traurig attorneys and establishing its own Latin America practice.

In the months since, Greenberg Traurig has added several attorneys to its more than 100-lawyer Latin America practice, including Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Carlos Treistman in Texas and Hogan Lovells partner Oscar Stephens in New York.

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