Edited by Manuel Gómez & Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo BIG L AW IN LATIN AMERICA & SPAIN Globalization and adjustments in the provision of high-end legal services Big Law in Latin America and Spain Manuel Gómez • Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo Editors Big Law in Latin America and Spain Globalization and Adjustments in the Provision of High-End Legal Services Editors Manuel Gómez Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo Florida International University Universidad Metropolitana Miami, Florida, USA Caracas, Venezuela ISBN 978-3-319-65402-7 ISBN 978-3-319-65403-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65403-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017958611 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu- tional affiliations. Cover illustration: Rafael Pasquini / EyeEm Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgments The research that forms the basis of this book could not have been con- ducted without the cooperation of the many lawyers and other legal pro- fessionals, business people, corporate officers, government officials, scholars, and other individuals interviewed for the different the chapters. In order to encourage candor and respect the professional careers of those involved and their organizations, we agreed to keep the identity of our interviewees confidential, except when they agreed to be identified. We gratefully acknowledge their willingness to give of their time and to share their knowledge, experience, and perspectives. The collaborative effort that produced this book was initiated by an international conference sponsored by Stanford Law School in 2014 through its Center for the Legal Profession, and a generous gift from Sidley Austin LLP. We gratefully acknowledge the support of all those who con- tributed to the discussion, and those who provided feedback and valuable comments during presentations at the Annual meetings of the Law and Society Association in Minneapolis (2014), Seattle (2015), New Orleans (2016), and Mexico City (2017). We especially thank Deborah R. Hensler for her invitation to participate in the Stanford Project on the Future of the Legal Profession, and for her continued support. All of the authors grate- fully acknowledge the support of their home institutions for their research and writing and for enabling the group to convene in various parts of the world to share their findings. The co-editors would like also to thank Marisol Floren-Romero at Florida International University College of Law for her valuable research assistance throughout the p roject, and to Marcus Nielsen for his help during the final stages of the editorial process. v c ontents Part I Introduction 1 1 Corporate Lawyers and Multinational Corporations in Latin America and Spain: 1990–2015 3 Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo Part II Big Law in Latin America and Spain 25 2 Law Firms in Argentina: Challenges and Responses to a Crisis 27 Maria Inés Bergoglio 3 Big Law in Brazil: Rise and Current Challenges 63 Mariana Conti Craveiro and Manuel Gómez 4 Big Law in Chile: A Glance at the Law Firms 83 Iñigo de la Maza Gazmuri, Rafael Mery Nieto, and Juan Enrique Vargas Viancos vii viii CONTENTS 5 Big Law in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic: Growth Strategies in Small Economies 123 Carlos Taboada and Manuel Gómez 6 The Rise of Big Law in Colombia 155 Everaldo Lamprea and Mariana Díaz Chalela 7 Global and Traditional: A Profile of Corporate Lawyers in Mexico 177 Rodrigo Meneses-Reyes and José Antonio Caballero 8 Lawyers and Globalization in Peru (1990–2014): Challenges in the Shadows 197 Gorki Gonzales Mantilla 9 Big Law in Spain: A Dynamic Ecosystem 241 Marisa Méndez Sordo 10 Big Law in Venezuela: From Globalization to Revolution 287 Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo Part III The Bigger Picture 321 11 Reconstructing Big Law: The Big Picture 323 Deborah R. Hensler 12 Big Law Today and Tomorrow 331 Lawrence M. Friedman CONTENT S ix Part IV Looking Ahead 341 13 Conclusion 343 Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo Index 349 l f ist of igures Chart 4.1 New Lawyers (1960–2013) 88 Chart 4.2 Evolution of the main Chilean law firms 91 Chart 6.1 Ratio of lawyers per 100,000 inhabitants 161 Chart 7.1 Areas of specialization of law firms in Mexico (2014) 189 Graph 9.1 Evolution of turnover and numbers of lawyers. Top 20 2013 252 Graph 9.2 Total revenues of top 20 law firms (2013) according to founding year 253 Graph 9.3 Increase in the number of lawyers at the 20 largest firms 1997–2013 269 Graph 9.4 Growth rates of the legal sector 1997–2013 272 xi l t ist of Ables Table 1.1 Number of lawyers (estimate) in five Latin American countries and Spain (1990–2015) 8 Table 1.2 Business law firms in seven Latin American countries by size (1999–2015) 15 Table 1.3 Ten largest business law firms in seven Latin American countries by size 16 Table 1.4 International law firms with most presence in six Latin American countries (1999–2015) 18 Table 2.1 Large law firms in Latin America 34 Table 2.2 Firms’ structure in 2006 and 2014 39 Table 2.3 Types of university in different periods 42 Table 2.4 Postgraduate studies by position in the firm and period 43 Table 2.5 Gender composition of large firms 49 Table 2.6 Associate/partner rate, 2006–2011 50 Table 2.7 List of law firms included in the research 53 Table 2.8 Law graduates from Argentine universities, 2002–2011 54 Table 3.1 Brazilian law firms by area of specialization (2015) 76 Table 4.1 Firms accor ding to the number of lawyers 93 Table 4.2 Lawyers according to the category in the firm 94 Table 4.3 Professions in the law firms 98 Table 4.4 Second language mastered by lawyers 100 Table 4.5 Language of the websites 101 Table 4.6 Lawyers according to gender 103 Table 4.7 Lawyers according to the country where they completed their undergraduate studies 103 Table 4.8 Lawyers according to universities where they completed their undergraduate studies 104 xiii