Dentons has acquired Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF)’s 26-lawyer Caracas office, coinciding with Venezuela’s acute economic and political crisis.
As part of the acquisition, Dentons hired eight partners with a sector focus on energy and natural resources, as well as employment. Currently led by labour partner Juan Carlos Pró-Rísquez, who became NRF managing partner in the country last year, the office is set to become Despacho de Abogados miembros de Dentons, after a transition period that sees it associated with Dentons’ Colombian business in Bogotá.
Dentons has recent form for targeting NRF’s Latin America operation, having made a triple hire in 2017 in Bogotá, with those additions providing the strategy to hire from NRF again in Caracas. The firm also combined with Delany Law and Dinner Martin in the Caribbean last year, while in 2017 it allied with Brazil’s Vella Pugliese Buosi e Guidoni and merged with Gallo Barrios Pickmann in Peru.
‘We have been very keen on hiring lawyers across the jurisdiction,’ chief executive for Latin America and the Caribbean Jorge Alers told Legal Business. ‘It’s no longer enough to just hire elite lawyers in prime markets; you have to be involved in that search for talent globally.’
However, the decision to open in Venezuela is not without risk. At the time of writing, the country was undergoing a political crisis in which opposition leader Juan Guaidó had been recognised by a number of global powers as the country’s interim president, while socialist president Nicolás Maduro retained power. The country is also the world’s largest oil producer but is hoping to diversify its economy to become less reliant on global commodity cycles.
NRF cited difficult market conditions as the reason for no longer maintaining a presence in Venezuela. However, Alers stressed the move was part of a larger strategy for Dentons, downplaying the country’s current turmoil: ‘Venezuela is in a difficult situation today, but it has the largest oil reserves in the world and has one of the most sophisticated legal markets in Latin America. It’s a long-term play from us.’
The Caracas branch was set to integrate into the firm’s verein structure following a vote from the global partnership. Dentons’ global expansion is likely to continue under the leadership of the firm’s chair Joe Andrew and chief executive Elliott Portnoy, who were both re-elected to their roles following an unopposed election in November before the firm opened its fourth German office in Düsseldorf.