Left to right: Morrison & Foerster partners Enrique Augusto Conde, Randy Bullard, Alexandra Aguirre and Juan Manuel Delgado. Morrison & Foerster Launches Latin America Practice With 9 Greenberg Attorneys
Alexandra Aguirre, Enrique Augusto Conde, Juan Manuel Delgado and former Miami corporate co-chair Randy Bullard are joining the firm as corporate partners. Five associates are moving with them.
June 19, 2019 at 12:03 PM
3 minute read
Two weeks after ALM first reported that four Greenberg Traurig partners had jumped to Morrison & Foerster, the firm has announced that the new partners are establishing a Latin America practice based out of Miami.
Alexandra Aguirre, Enrique Augusto Conde, Juan Manuel Delgado and former Miami corporate co-chairman Randy Bullard are joining the firm as corporate partners. Five associates are moving with them.
The new practice, which will be based in Miami at 600 Brickell Avenue, will be co-chaired by Morrison & Foerster securities partner Ruti Smithline and Bullard. The group will advise on anti-bribery and corruption, antitrust, corporate/M&A and international arbitration, among other disciplines.
“Our team decided to join MoFo because of its outstanding global M&A capabilities and its growing focus on Latin America,” Bullard said in a statement. “We are excited to work with our new colleagues in representing clients on their blockbuster, industry-changing deals and further building MoFo's Latin America Desk. We are also pleased to join a firm that is renowned for its diversity and inclusion.”
Eric McCrath, co-chair of the firm's corporate practice, said the office will shore up the firm's weakness in Latin America. For years it worked with Fortune 100 and multinational clients in Latin America but a dedicated practice group and a location in Miami demonstrate the firm's commitment to the region, he said.
“We weren't as strong as we would have liked,” McCrath said. “Miami is a springboard for investment into Latin America.”
In April, Greenberg vice chairwoman and corporate co-chairwoman Patricia Menendez-Cambo left for SoftBank Group International as deputy general counsel. Morrison & Foerster's corporate attorneys have worked with SoftBank for at least seven years, advising on a $2.3 billion acquisition of eAccess in 2012 and a $4.4 billion WeWork investment in 2017.
On June 7, the day after Morrison & Foerster announced the launch of its Miami office, SoftBank announced that Menendez-Cambo would serve as general counsel for the bank's Latin America Fund and the SoftBank Tech Hub.
The firm would not comment on the relationship between SoftBank and the new office but McCrath said the firm is “working with SoftBank on some ongoing projects.”
McCrath said Morrison & Foerster has no concrete plans to expand the office beyond Bullard's nine-attorney team. But he added that he is “bullish across the board, Miami included,” pointing to the fact that Morrison & Foerster has added 30 lateral partners to the firm in 2019.
In the wake of the departures, Greenberg Traurig announced on Monday the elevation of Mexico City office managing partner Jose Raz Guzman and New York partner Marc Rossell to co-chairmen of the firm's 100-attorney Latin America practice.
Commenting on the departures, Greenberg CEO Brian Duffy said in a statement, “Our Latin American team remains one of the largest in the world, with nearly 100 lawyers located throughout our 41 offices around the globe, including attorneys in Miami, Mexico, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.”
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Morrison & Foerster Raids Greenberg Traurig to Open Miami Office
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