Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)

When Morrison & Foerster launched a Latin America practice in June of last year, it had no way of knowing that a global health and economic crisis was looming and that the COVID-19 pandemic would spread wildly through Latin America.

Back then, the firm was entering an increasingly crowded field of Am Law 100 firms that had either opened or expanded offices to focus on a burgeoning Latin America wealth and corporate market from outposts in South Florida.

And Morrison & Foerster moved aggressively, raiding Greenberg Traurig's well-established Latin America practice, bringing on a nine-attorney team from its Miami office.

Then came the coronavirus.

Latin America and the Caribbean went into the pandemic with already-weakening economies and fragile health systems. The region now rivals the United States for total deaths from COVID-19, with fatalities having surpassed 100,000 as of late-June. The World Bank forecasts a 7.2% economic contraction for the region in 2020, versus a 2.5% decline for emerging markets and developing countries as a whole.

Yet even in times of instability, there's plenty of work for lawyers—including for those Morrison & Foerster lawyers who focus on Latin America.

"COVID is unique and none of us have lived through a pandemic, but we've lived through a multitude of different types of crises and still emerged stronger and more knowledgeable after," said Randy Bullard, who jumped from Greenberg to Morrison & Foerster last year to co-chair the newly formed Latin America desk.

Other Am Law 100 firms that have established Latin America practices in Miami over the past 12 months include Polsinelli and Baker McKenzie. Florida-based law firms such as Greenberg and Holland & Knight have long worked in the space.

The Big Law push into the region has coincided with a slew of acquisitions of local firms by large Spanish firms looking to accompany their clients in the region.

"It is a much more crowded field than it was five years ago, or 10 years ago, but I think that's just a testament to the interest in the region and the amount of investments," said Bullard. "We certainly wouldn't want to be in a region where people are pulling out."

So far, no one is. Firms have been and continue to be busy in the region. Companies operating in Latin America rushed to expand or tap their financing facilities early in the pandemic, while sovereigns raised a flurry of debt in capital markets. Most deals that were near-completion have progressed, though some buyers have sought steep discounts or to cancel contracts.

A sizable number of U.S. companies, meanwhile, are looking to exit the region as they retrench to focus on more profitable markets. But Asian investors have sought to expand in Latin America. In fact, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp., which launched a $4 billion Latin America fund in the first quarter of 2019, said earlier this year it will continue to invest in Latin America, with plans to dole out $1 billion in 2020.

Morrison & Foerster has a long history of working with SoftBank, where former Greenberg partner Patricia Menendez-Cambo, who worked with the team that defected to Morrison & Foerster, is now general counsel of SoftBank's Latin America Fund. Also, one of the partners who came on from Greenberg, Enrique Conde, jumped late last year to SoftBank Group International to be a deputy general counsel. Morrison & Foerster continues to work with SoftBank on a variety of projects across Latin America and around the world.

Significant arbitration, restructuring and bankruptcy work is also around the corner in Latin America, lawyers say.

Ruti Smithline, a New York-based Morrison & Foerster partner who is co-chair of the Latin America desk, says the formation of a dedicated desk responded to a need to better communicate to clients the firm's capabilities in the region. And that need has remained during the pandemic.

Smithline, who was born and raised in Colombia and has been at Morrison & Foerster for 15 years, said that while the firm has long serviced multinational clients in Latin America from afar, often tapping into expertise from local law firms, it can now better cover the region with a dedicated Latin America practice that can draw from experts in Miami, Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco and even Asia.

Further hiring for the Latin America desk will be "opportunistic and strategic," she said.

The firm also hopes to further build on the practice from within. Morrison & Foerster has moved forward with its summer associate program in the U.S. despite the pandemic, and several of this year's summer associates are Latin America natives who the firm hopes will work with the Latin America desk.

"Law firms have to invest in their people. It's always about the up-and-coming, next generation," Bullard said.

Read More:

Morrison & Foerster Launches Latin America Practice With Nine From Greenberg Traurig

Polsinelli Launches LatAm Practice, Taking Corporate Partner From Holland & Knight