Our Practices

CORPORATE AND TRANSACTIONAL PRACTICE GROUP


Our Corporate and Transactional Practice Group possesses ample experience in the following areas of law:


      • Banking and Institutional Investment
      • Business Reorganization and Creditors' Rights
      • Business Formation and Start-ups
      • Consumer Lending
      • Corporate Finance and Capital Markets
      • Emerging Companies
      • Government Relations
      • Investment and Strategic Ventures
      • Lobbying and Permit Procurement
      • Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures
      • Private Equity/Finance
      • Public Finance
      • Real Estate and Real Estate Financing
      • Securities Transactions
      • Taxation


Attorneys in this Practice Group have participated in billions of dollars worth of recent securities offerings; mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; consumer, commercial, and real estate loans; complex commercial foreclosures; municipal financing; municipal improvement, and public works projects; municipal procurement; and real estate, land use, and zoning transactions. The Corporate and Transactional Practice Group has also advised clients in every aspect of contract negotiation and capital projects organization and management.  Our taxation practice includes advising individuals, corporate clients, and governmental and quasi-governmental entities in U.S. Federal and Puerto Rico tax, estate, trust, and employee benefits laws and regulations.


PROCUREMENT LAW PRACTICE 


An important component of the Corporate and Transactional Practice Group, the Procurement Law Practice Sub-Group has extensive experience in contract law, which complements the in-depth knowledge of the permit procurement process in Puerto Rico.  The Procurement Law Practice Sub-Group has ample experience in highly-technical public and private projects related to construction, infrastructure, and operations. Attorneys in the Procurement Law Practice Sub-Group have represented government and private entities in all areas of government procurement matters, including the preparation and submission of public bid proposals and the drafting and negotiation of agreements governing complex technical and professional services, including the partial or complete privatization of public services.

The range of services the Procurement Law Practice Sub-Group provides to its clients includes the following, among others:


    • analysis of U.S. Federal, state, and local licensing and contract requirements
    • the selection of adequate delivery systems for projects, be it design-build, design-procure-build, a build-operate-transfer
    • pre-qualifications, preparation, review, evaluation, and comparison of project proposals and bids
    • contract drafting and negotiating and contract risk analysis
    • performance guaranties such as payment and performance bonds, letters of credit, and insurance claims
    • requests for proposals and bid award litigations and dispute resolutions.


The Procurement Law Practice Sub-Group has also worked on large-scale infrastructure projects such as seaport privatization, telecommunications and IT services contracting, and construction and administration of municipal facilities.  In addition, the Procurement Law Practice Sub-Group has also represented the Firm's clients in appellate actions challenging the granting of permits to third parties.


BANKING AND CONSUMER LENDING PRACTICE


We offer our clients in the financial community a wide range of experience in regulatory and transactional areas. Banks and other financial institutions rely on our attorneys for counsel on regulatory matters and daily banking operations, as well as personal and corporate trust matters. Our in-depth understanding of the nature of regulated industries such as banking enables our attorneys to analyze and advise clients on evolving and innovative banking and non-banking products, services, and structures within the parameters and spirit of the U.S. Federal and state regulatory framework.


In addition, we represent financial institutions in structuring and documenting credit transactions of all types and amounts to both public and private borrowers. Among these are secured and unsecured credit agreements, subordinated debt financings, loan participations, letters of credit and bankers acceptances, project financing, acquisition financing, trust instruments, and loan restructuring and work-outs. Our attorneys also assist banking clients in the purchase of assets of failed institutions, and in the acquisition and sale of leasing and financing operations, portfolios of loans, leases, and other assets.


The Banking and Consumer Lending Practice Sub-Group also helps its clients to establish and maintain robust consumer financial services programs. This Sub-Group focuses on a wide array of issues that arise in connection with such programs, including documentation, consumer disclosures, and state licensing.  Among the types of products that we may assist our clients are retail installment financing, mortgage lending, personal property leasing, credit cards, unsecured installment lending, credit reports, credit insurance, and related-product reviews.  The Sub-Group also assists its clients in projects and issues such as compliance audits/due diligence reviews, drafting U.S. Federal and state legislation, drafting advocacy, and comment letters to administrative agencies, drafting U.S. Federal and state disclosures, drafting loan agreements, retail installment sale agreements, leases, promissory notes, mortgages, credit card agreements, federal preemption theory, high cost mortgage loan compliance, privacy, identity theft, information security and safeguarding policies, U.S. Patriot Act and OFAC requirements, licensing information for brokers / lenders / finance companies / lessors and state law compliance manuals.