Photo: Diego Radzinschi

Dentons has taken over Norton Rose Fulbright's office in Venezuela to launch its first operation in the country at a fractious time for politics and its inflation-driven economy.

The Caracas office with eight partners and 18 lawyers had been a part of Norton Rose since 2012.

The firm, which will be called Despacho de Abogados Miembros de Dentons SC, is strong in the practice areas of energy and natural resources, corporate, labor and employment, litigation and dispute resolution, banking and finance, tax and public law.

Although the incorporation of the new office into Dentons' verein structure still requires a global partner vote, which is due in the next few weeks, a firm representative said that these are usually approved.

The transition comes amid fresh strife in Venezuela, where nationwide demonstrations against the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro were expected Wednesday.

The office will be the 22nd for Dentons in Latin America and the Caribbean. But the firm is a relative newcomer to the region. It opened its first offices in Bogota and Mexico City in 2016.

“Three years ago we didn't have a single office in Latin America or the Caribbean. Baker McKenzie had a 55-60-year head start on us, DLA Piper had a 30-year head start, Hogan Lovells had 20 years,” said Dentons global chairman Joe Andrew. “There was a lot of skepticism when we said we wanted to be the first truly pan-Latin American and Caribbean firm. Today we have tripled the number of offices of our closest competitor.”

Norton Rose gave a more downbeat assessment of the change. Explaining the firm's reasons for leaving the country, chief executive Peter Martyr said: “Market conditions in Venezuela have been challenging for some time. Therefore, we have reached a mutual agreement with our Caracas partners that Norton Rose Fulbright will no longer maintain a local market presence in Venezuela. We wish them well.”

Dentons Latin America CEO Jorge Alers countered that the office was very, very successful for Norton Rose. “They were not asked to leave by any stretch of the imagination, and they elected to join us for their own reasons,” he said.

Alers said the success of former Norton Rose colleagues in Bogota who left to join Dentons last year “demonstrated to them how they could succeed in Dentons' model, and I assume that it was an important factor in their decision.”