Squire Patton Boggs has appointed Alejandro Peña Prieto as head of the law firm's Latin America practice, based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The appointment, along with other changes in the Latin America practice, is aimed at providing seamless services to clients doing inbound and outbound business across the region, the firm said.

In addition, the firm has formed a 20-person executive committee to drive the strategic direction of the practice in Latin America. The executive committee members based in Miami, Washington, New York and Houston provide expertise on topics such as trade, international dispute resolution, and energy.

The Miami committee members are litigator Digna B. French; Raul B. Mañun, who handles international dispute resolution; Jose Martin on government and white collar investigations; Manuel Mingot on financial services; and Luis Reiter, who focuses on public and infrastructure finance. Alfredo G. Anzola, with an energy and natural resources focus, splits his time between Miami and Houston.

"One of the key strengths of our firm is precisely the fact that we have a large number of attorneys with strong Latin America practices located in various offices," said Peña Prieto, who assists U.S., Latin American and European investors with significant business interests in the Dominican Republic, particularly in the energy, finance, real estate and hospitality and consumer product sectors.

The multidisciplinary committee schedules bimonthly calls and an in-person meeting once a year. In addition, the firm has created a six-member operational committee for Latin America that meets at least monthly either by phone or in person to coordinate the work of the broader committee.

Squire's Latin America practice has three country desks: a Brazil desk chaired by Paula A. Galhardo, a Mexico desk chaired by Alvaro J. Mestre and a Caribbean/Central America Desk chaired by Eduardo R. Guzman.