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Garrigues continues its expansion in Latin America with the integration of Avendaño Merino in Chile

The law firm Garrigues has just closed the deal to integrate the Chilean firm Avendaño Merino, one of the most innovative and prestigious law firms in Chile, into its network of offices. This is one more step in the firm’s plans to expand in Latin America and an important milestone in terms of its goal to become the reference firm in that area. 

Avendaño Merino, which will now be known as Garrigues Chile, has a team of more than 20 lawyers, of which 5 will become partners of Garrigues: Oscar Ferrari, Luis Felipe Merino, José Miguel Rioseco, Luis Eduardo Correa and Rodrigo Fernández. The firm was founded in 2003 and is formed by a young team with great potential for development, which will now have the support of the entire Garrigues structure worldwide in order to offer the greatest possible added value to its clients.  It covers all areas of corporate law, with special emphasis on M&A, tax, real estate and energy.  Its practice in these areas has been acknowledged by the English publication Chambers and Partners.

The two law firms understood each other extremely well as soon as they began to negotiate, not only because they share a common vision of the business, a similar client-service vocation and the same interest in the training and development of their lawyers, but also because of the tremendous advantages that the integration can offer.  According to the Executive Chairman of Garrigues, Fernando Vives, “Chile was a destination that could not be left out of our goal to become a firm of reference in Latin America.  From the beginning we saw an identity of cultures between Garrigues and Avendaño Merino which made us determined to integrate its professionals; we are sure that they will all serve to strengthen Garrigues, not only in Chile but also throughout Latin America”.

In turn, Luis Felipe Merino, the managing partner of Avendaño Merino, underlined their great satisfaction at this integration, and is sure that “joining the increasingly important presence of Garrigues in Latin America will enable us to continue to attract talent and to strengthen our practice so as to improve the offer of services we give our clients”.

The transaction in Chile makes Garrigues the European firm with the largest number of own offices in Latin America, with a presence in Bogota (Colombia), Lima (Peru), Mexico City (Mexico), São Paulo (Brazil) and now Santiago (Chile). Following this last integration, Garrigues now has more than 100 Latin American lawyers working in its various offices, at which clients can be sure of finding the quality standards to which they are accustomed, with integrated and homogeneous advisory services in all jurisdictions in which the firm operates.  At global level, Garrigues has more than 1,500 lawyers and a presence in 13 countries.