Arias
(The following information was supplied by the firm)
Firm Overview
Arias was established in 1942 by Francisco Armando Arias (1915-2013), and today it continues to be the most recommended firm in Central America, with 79 years of experience in providing accurate and timely solutions based on its clients’ goals and backed by a great team of professionals, highly focused on client service.
The firm’s heritage, passion for law and commitment to quality, allows Arias to grow along with the region and overcome new challenges in each country in which Arias operates: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama
Managing Partners
Regional Managing Partner: Armando Arias,
Arias Costa Rica: Carolina Flores and Vicente Lines
Arias Guatemala: Liz Gordillo
Arias El Salvador: Lilian Arias and Roberta Gallardo
Arias Honduras: Evangelina Lardizábal
Arias Nicaragua: Ana Teresa Rizo
Arias Panamá: Siaska SSS Lorenzo
Number of partners: 42
Number of lawyers regionwide: 130
Main Areas of Practice:
Arbitration & Litigation
Arias advises companies facing litigation of various types before administrative or judicial forums. This includes out-of-court settlements, alternative mechanisms for dispute resolutions and skillful litigation. The team also has vast experience in international and local arbitration.
Antitrust
Advises in concentrations, competition-related litigation, clearance, cartel investigation and litigation, compliance, counselling and training programs, antitrust disputes, commercial disputes and judicial reviews, among others.
Banking & Finance
Structuring finance projects with development and international commercial banks and counselling financial institutions and multinational companies in corporate and financial transactions.
Corporate & Commercial
Start-up projects, establishment of operations, corporate governance, due diligence, contracts, corporate immigration and day-to-day legal needs.
Intellectual Property
Trademark registration, patents, oppositions and all matters related to intellectual property protection.
Labour
Drafting and execution of labour contracts, internal labour regulations, registrations with employment authorities, changes in employment terms and conditions, terminations, labour controversies and negotiations of out-of-court settlements, labour dispute mediation, litigation of employment-related matters and corporate immigration.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Negotiations and closings in selling and acquiring companies, acquisition of minority and controlling interest, businesses due diligence process and identifying legal contingencies.
Tax Planning & Litigation
Tax structuring, tax planning, tax litigation, transfer pricing, free trade zones and fiscal grounds, municipal taxes, customs, among others related.
Regulatory
Through its extensive knowledge of local regulations, Arias provides regulatory advice in consumer protection, data protection and privacy, energy, environment, finance matters, telecommunications, media and technology, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, among others.
Energy
Arias provides advice on the successful development of energy generation projects, from the initial investment phase to the beginning of operations, as well as in the distribution sector and electricity market. Arias has vast experience in public tenders, regulatory compliance issues before different public entities, power purchase agreements, supply and other agreements necessary to enable the participation in the energy market.
Other Practice Areas
Administrative law, aviation, compliance, anti-money laundering and anti-corruption, franchising, government procurement, international trade, foreign investments, insurance and reinsurance, oil and gas, project and infrastructure finance, public private partnerships, real estate, among others.
DIVERSITY
Arias promotes equal opportunities for men and women within the firm, in which recruitment, appointments and professional growth are based on individual merits above any other reason. At Arias, over 50% of the lawyers in the region are women.
47% of our partners are women
48% of our associates are women
100% of our managing partners are women
57% of our administrative managers are women
Partners promote learning and growth opportunities for female attorneys, taking into consideration their personal life, family responsibilities, studies, etc., while encouraging them to thrive in their career. Our Regional Management Counsel is formed by 3 women, who are also Managing Partners of the three major offices: El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
PRO BONO
Our partners are involved in various activities, especially regarding, inclusion and education of children, the protection of families and vulnerable women across Central America.
At Arias, the pro bono work is promoted by partners and associates. Each member is free to decide which association or foundations will be supporting. As a firm operating in developing countries Arias has a profound commitment to protect, defend and support people in need. Being our countries places where violence and displacement are highly sensitive issues, and real issues, Arias Managing Team is constantly encouraging collaborators to act as part of the solutions our societies need among the problematic environments.
We are proud of the commitment every associate, partner or team member shows and strongly believe that this kind of selfless work can only make us become better humans, working to make our nations better.
Key Contacts
Managing Partner
Carolina Flores
carolina.flores@ariaslaw.com
Managing Partner
Vicente Lines
vicente.lines@ariaslaw.com
Firm Rankings
Administrative & Public Law
Band 2
8.0
Banking & Finance
Band 1
9.0
Competition/Antitrust
Band 3
7.0
Compliance
Band 1
Corporate/M&A
Band 2
8.8
Dispute Resolution
Band 2
8.0
Environment
Band 2
8.0
Infrastructure
Band 1
IP
Band 1
IP: Trademarks
Band 2
8.0
Labour & Employment
Band 3
7.0
Projects
Band 2
8.0
Real Estate
Band 3
6.0
Tax
Band 2
8.8
TMT
Band 1
9.0
Lawyer Rankings
Articles
On February 14, 2022, Law No. 284 of 2022 (“Law 284”) was enacted, repealing Law No. 31 of 2010 and becoming the governing provision of the horizontal property (“PH” as per its acronym in Spanish) regime. Although Law 284 does not represent a substantial modification of the existing regime and it follows to a great […]
In 2021 and so far this year, there has been an increase in investments on construction projects in El Salvador. From a legal standpoint, this constitutes a challenge to the construction industry due to the high level of disputes and conflicts that usually arise between contractors and owners. These conflicts generally occur when the contracts […]
In accordance with a study carried out by the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) between 2019 and 2020, certain countries in Latin America (Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and the Dominican Republic) were not able to collect from 227 to 255.4 million US dollars on taxes derived from the lack of […]
In accordance with the last modification of the Statutes of the Patent Law in 2014, among other relevant changes in the form and substance of patentability examinations, the formal possibility of requesting an interview with the examiner was established. Although it is true that before said modification of the statutes, the interviews with the examiners […]
Law 81/2019 on the Protection of Personal Data in Panama exempts from its scope of application, those procedures that are expressly regulated by special laws or by the regulations that develop them. However, the provisions and postulates on the protection of personal data contained in Law 81/2019 and Executive Decree 285/2021 are only minimum standards, […]
In the context of Data Privacy, consent is associated with the right of the content of informative self-determination, which gives special interest to the development of rules of security of processing, transparency and information of the person, so that said interest, according to the criteria of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, […]
Guatemala´s Constitutional Courts are being negligent; constantly violating the rights of their citizens. It´s important to know that anyone can report any violations since it´s established in the law that Courts… Continue reading
Here are some recommendations for multinational companies to follow which shall help reduce the risk of suffering cyberattacks. yberattacks are constantly increasing in number and complexity; and this does not seem to change for 2022. This has led to many regulators to start working on introducing (or have introduced) new laws focused on both cybersecurity […]
IS MY COMPANY OBLIGED TO COMPLY WITH THIS NEW LAW? The General Law of Water Resources (“Law”) approved by the Legislative Assembly on December 21, 2021 after almost six months of discussion and revision of the project presented by the Minister of Environment to the Assembly on June 18, 2021. The Law was published […]
The future of Contracting: What are Smart Contracts? Recently, technological advances have increased exponentially. With each passing year, new programs and devices invented transform the status quo of various activities and professions, which is no exception for the hiring area. From time immemorial, people have entered into contracts to regulate transactions with each other, whether […]
Law 81/2019 on the Protection of Personal Data in Panama exempts from its scope of application, those procedures that are expressly regulated by special laws or by the regulations that develop them. However, the provisions and postulates on the protection of personal data contained in Law 81/2019 and Executive Decree 285/2021 are only minimum standards, […]
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have proven to be an effective tool for strengthening public policies, since they not only make possible the mobilization of resources from the private sector, both in financial and information terms, but it also allows bothsectors to align and integrate their efforts to the proper implementation of policies. Intellectual property is no […]
The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance through Ministerial Agreement 206-2021 approves the new Regulations for Clinical Trials in Humans, which are effective from October 30, 2021. Ministerial Agreement 299-2019 of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, Regulations for the Regulation of Clinical Trials in Humans, is repealed. This Regulation aims to […]
On November 24, 2021, the decree “Procedure for simplified health registration by notification, health registration, registration recognitions, raw materials, control and surveillance of processed foods and low-risk cosmetics”, number 43291-S, was published in the Official Newspaper La Gaceta, aiming to implement a new mechanism for simplified registration by notification. The new mechanism will allow the […]
Sometimes the definition or meaning of expert, profession or professional varies from region to region around the world. Patent professionals in the United States can be divided into two main groups, patent agents and patent attorneys. But what happens when we try to match these professionals with their counterparts in other geographic sections? Latin America is one of […]
Today, October 11, the President of the Republic and the Minister of Health signed Executive Decree number 43249-S which establishes the obligation for Public Sector workers to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and also empowers Private Sector employers to establish in their internal policies said vaccination as mandatory for their collaborators, in order to […]
¿QUÉ DEBE SABER? La incursión en internet y en nuevas tecnologías a inicios de los noventa, implicó para muchos empresarios un cambio en su modelo de negocio para adaptarse a las nuevas necesidades de los consumidores y usuarios. Históricamente el comercio electrónico se denominó “intercambio electrónico de informaciones”, conocido como EDI (electronic data interchange) por […]
Press Releases
The Latin America Corporate Counsel (LACCA) has released the latest edition of LACCA Approved, bringing together some of the region’s top private practice lawyers who have been personally recommended by LACCA members, the leading general counsels from around the region. The Central American region has one of the most competitive legal environments, at Arias we […]
The INTERNATIONAL TAX REVIEW recently delivered the 2021 awards on tax and tax planning issues, in this award the notable achievements and developments by professionals specialized in international tax from the North American, Central American and South American region during a period of 12 months and We are pleased to announce that on this occasion […]