Mark Vorsatz

Andersen Global has entered into a collaboration agreement with a firm that covers six countries in Central America, as the San Francisco-based tax and legal adviser ramps up its expansion in Latin America.

The agreement with Central Law brings the firm more than 70 legal professionals based in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

"This really kind of fills out for us a big chunk of Central America," Andersen chairman Mark Vorsatz said, noting that his firm already had a legal and tax presence in Guatemala.

Central Law provides comprehensive legal advice in areas such as banking and finance, civil law, commercial law, corporate law, immigration, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, arbitration, litigation, maritime and tax.

Rafael Quirós Bustamante, founding partner of Central Law, said the decision to join Andersen is a reflection of the shifting needs in a fragmented Central American legal market, where international firms have established a presence like "ships that sail around the world in search of better opportunities."

Hot areas for legal services right now in the region, he said, include advisory on services outsourcing, tourism and a growing pharmaceutical industry.

Central America is also rife with outbound immigration, violence and political instability—issues that Andersen has grown increasingly comfortable with as it negotiates a foothold in a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Nicaraguans have been clamoring for their president to resign for more than a year now, with government forces conducting a brutal crackdown on protesters; dozens of opposition leaders there have been either killed, jailed or exiled. Now Hondurans are taking to the streets, too, demanding that their president resign after his younger brother was convicted this month in a New York court of drug trafficking that prosecutors say was aided by the state.

Vorsatz shrugged off the political instability in Central America and many other jurisdictions Andersen is eyeing as short-term aberrations.

"I'm not thinking about next week or next month, or profits per partner, I'm thinking about what the environment is going to be like in 20 years," he said. "We are 100% investing for the next generation."

It's a play in many ways on demographics. The median age in Latin America, for instance, is 29, compared to 38 in the U.S. Vorsatz wagers that countries where the population skews younger will enjoy higher rates of gross domestic product growth in the coming years as more workers enter the labor force and contribute to output.

Vorsatz recalled how Arthur Andersen entered China in the early 1990s, when that country accounted for just 3% of global GDP. Now China represents 18% of global GDP. He looks to replicate this headstart advantage in places such as Africa, where the firm has entered 21 countries, and looks to soon establish a presence in yet another 12.

Meanwhile, he noted that clients require advisory services even in conflict zones like Syria, recounting how a colleague based in Kuwait visits Damascus once a month and how Syrians show up for work in the lulls between aggressions.

"Even when there's political unrest, business continues," he said.

Andersen is now in more than 70 countries, with legal services in 61, as it undertakes an aggressive global expansion. The firm aims to be a one-stop shop to offer tax and legal services to clients around the world, in a seamless and borderless way. The core services cover all the needs of a corporation, from employment law to intellectual property, the firm said.

"It's harder to get fired in 20 countries than it is to get fired in one," Vorsatz said. "The more of our locations that are involved [with a client], the stronger the firm's relationship."

The strategy is similar to the one undertaken by Dentons, which has expanded into at least 25 new countries within the last five years. It is also similar to the strategy undertaken by the Big Four accounting firms.

Andersen aims to ink agreements in 100 countries by the end of 2020, which means Vorsatz is typically on the road two weeks a month. Five Andersen employees research opportunities around the globe full-time, compiling lists of sometimes dozens of firms by country and then whittling those lists down to top contenders.

Within Latin America, and including the Central Law addition, the firm has a presence in 14 countries. For now, Andersen has decided not to enter Venezuela, where the economy is in tatters, and it may delay discussions in Chile, where fiery street protests have raged in recent weeks.

Andersen's headcount in Latin America is currently more than 900, with 250 people in Brazil, the firm's regional base, although those numbers include tax and other services the firm offers. Vorsatz said he needs a headcount of more than 500 to be truly competitive in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, and at least another 50 lawyers in Mexico, the region's second-biggest economy. Andersen is in talks with several firms to enhance its presence in Mexico City, in particular.

Expansion in Brazil and Mexico are key, he said, because global firms often set up regional headquarters in one or the other. Together, these two countries account for about half the total population of Latin America and the Caribbean and $5.8 trillion GDP.

Andersen engages firms via collaboration agreements that are not exclusive and require no financial commitment. Generally, the firm won't enter into more than one collaboration agreement in a single country. After a year or two, if the firms are getting along, Andersen will offer them membership. It only admits members once a year.

"We're like bricklayers," Vorsatz said. "Once we get a decent scale in a market, we get approached by firms."

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