By Casey Sullivan
Oct 8 (Reuters) - Baker & McKenzie, the 4,000-lawyer legal
behemoth, on Monday acquired Peru's Estudio Echecopar, becoming
the first U.S.-based law firm to establish an office in Peru.
The deal will give Baker & McKenzie, which has 14 other
offices in South America, a foothold in each corner of the
Andean triangle of Peru, Chile and Colombia. It will also give
the firm a strong mining industry practice.
For 62-year-old Estudio Echecopar, a 100-lawyer firm based
in Lima, the deal will provide resources to handle foreign
transactions for its corporate clients, which include Citibank,
Deloitte and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
In recent years, U.S. law firms looking to expand in Latin
America have been more inclined to establish offices in markets
like Brazil and Mexico, seeking to capitalize on a wave of
foreign investment in natural resources, energy and
infrastructure projects throughout the countries' growing
cities.
But Peru, Chile and Colombia, with a combined population of
roughly 87 million in 2011, have developed close free-trade ties
and have even merged their stock exchanges to facilitate
investment, said Baker & McKenzie Chairman Eduardo Leite. They
are also expected to grow more rapidly in the next five years
than Brazil and Mexico, which have a collective population of
400 million.
Other law firms like Holland & Knight are also betting on
growth in the Andean triangle. In May, the firm, which already
had an office in Mexico City, opened in Bogota, and has been
advising clients such as mining operation Drummond Limited (in a
variety of acquisitions and joint ventures) and London-based
InterContinental Hotels Group (in its effort to expand in
Colombia).
Holland & Knight represents Juan Valdez in its expansion of
coffee shops throughout the United States, a firm spokeswoman
said.
"Many Colombian companies have reached a level of maturity;
rather than doing work just in the country are doing work out of
South America and inbound into the U.S.," said Robert Pupo,
chairman of Holland & Knight's Latin America practice.
But Baker & McKenzie's foray marks the first law firm to set
up an office in Lima, a smaller market with a more domestic
focus. The area has gone untapped so far because of political
instability, said Leite, who added that the country has
developed a stronger economic footing under Peru President Alan
Garcia.
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