As COVID-19 spread around the globe, Polsinelli partner Emil Infante in Miami was confronted with an unusual request: Find housing for a Central American client's child who was waylaid in the U.S. by  border closures.

Under normal circumstances, the head of Polsinelli's new Latin America practice said he would have brought the child into his own home. But this time was different. Infante instead found a short-term rental in South Florida, who had been studying in Spain before the coronavirus emerged.

"From a business and purely personal perspective, these are the moments when you know who you can trust, who you can rely on and who is really there for you," Infante said. "These are not billable hours we are talking about — this is about being a friend, being human and treating others like you would want you and yours to be treated."

The coronavirus has opened unique avenues for lawyers to build meaningful, lifelong personal and business relationships with clients during troubled times, especially clients from Latin America. Members of many wealthy Latin American families hold multiple passports and visas, creating a complex web of tax jurisdictions to navigate as some weather the pandemic elsewhere, either by choice or circumstance.

Countries such as El Salvador have required returning nationals to quarantine at a public health facility — not at private homes or hospitals — even if they displayed no symptoms. International commercial air service to Argentina and Peru has largely been eliminated under their quarantines, which began in mid-March and have been extended until at least May 10.

And Infante said a significant number of young members of wealthy families have been stranded in Europe or the U.S. as a result of aggressive travel restrictions in their home countries due to the virus.

Building relationships with these clients can pay off. Household wealth in Latin America accounted for $9.6 trillion in 2019, according to Credit Suisse's annual Global Wealth Report. And that wealth is concentrated largely among families with sizable domestic and multinational businesses that often span multiple generations. Much of that wealth passes through Miami, providing steady business for lawyers like Infante who provide services to family offices.

A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a family or multiple families, who generally have more than $100 million in assets to invest. The goal is to grow and transfer wealth across generations, accompanied by tax and estate planning.

Professional wealth managers are making sure their clients' estate planning is up to date, while lawyers assist with solutions for supply chain disruptions and unpaid bills that make it difficult to keep operations going even for industries that have been deemed essential.

A four-lawyer tax and private client team in Miami that migrated to McDermott Will & Emery from DLA Piper during the pandemic is handling a myriad of unusual issues.

Partners Mike Silva, Gregory Weigand and Arianne Plasencia and counsel Ryan Coyle have extensive experience working with high-net-worth families and individuals during extreme market volatility.

The team has helped secure U.S. government loans directed toward maintaining U.S. payrolls during the pandemic for a Brazilian fund that has several U.S. businesses. The economic stress of quarantines has led clients to restructure bank loans to meet payroll, pay rent or fulfill commitments to suppliers.

The McDermott team said the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARE, Act signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27 provides significant tax benefits to Latin American investors, funds and companies operating in the U.S.

The U.S. Treasury is expected to soon provide guidance for foreign investors and visitors who stayed in the U.S. during the pandemic to help them avoid unnecessary U.S. taxation. Still, the team warns that U.S. tax filings will likely be required.

At the same time, they say depressed interest rates and asset values have created an optimal window for private wealth clients to restructure assets to insulate them from U.S. estate taxes.

Going forward, the McDermott team is advising family offices and wealthy individuals to be hyper-vigilant as struggling economies could encourage tax authorities around the world to undertake more audits. Before the pandemic, governments in Latin America had already been increasing the scope and detail of disclosures for goods and service transactions.