Garrigues bolsters its office in Chile with four new hires

• The latest additions to the team are professionals specializing in the areas of litigation and arbitration, finance, tax law and mergers & acquisitions.
• Garrigues strengthens its commitment to Latin America by continuously improving its service in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Colombia.

Santiago de Chile, June 21, 2016.- Garrigues has taken on new lawyers at its office in Santiago de Chile to reinforce the litigation and arbitration, finance, tax law and M&A practices. These professionals are experts with a wealth of experience in their respective fields who are committed to the firm’s international venture in Chile and Garrigues’ strategy of becoming the firm of choice in the Latin American market.

Specifically, the new partners joining Garrigues are:

• Pedro García Morales, who joins the newly created financial practice. Pedro has been a partner at Morales & Besa and is one of the most respected lawyers in Chile in the areas of finance (banking, capital markets and projects) and energy. Pedro will head the office’s financial practice. His appointment is pending ratification by the next Partner’s Meeting.
• Mónica Van der Schraft Greve, who joins the litigation and arbitration practice. Mónica has been a litigation and arbitration partner at Cariola Diez Pérez-Cotapos and Estudio Etcheberry. She is also a member of the Ethics Committee of the Chilean Bar Association and a director of the Chilean Chapter of the Spanish Arbitration Club. Mónica is Garrigues’ first female partner in Latin America, and the first woman to head a practice area in the region. 

The following professionals have also joined the Garrigues team:

• José Domingo Peñafiel Zañartu, who joins the office’s tax practice. In addition to working for the Chilean Ministry of Finance, he has also practiced at firms such as Claro, Avendaño Merino, and Echeverría, Ilharreborde & Peñafiel. 
• Eduardo Díez Rojas, who joins the corporate law and M&A practice. Before joining Garrigues, he was General Counsel at GNL Mejillones, S.A., Legal Counsel at Bechtel Chile and a senior associate at Claro y Cía.

With these new members of the team, Garrigues continues to demonstrate its commitment to the Chilean market and its growth strategy in Latin America. Having consolidated its presence with own offices in Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, the firm now plans to reinforce its position in each of these markets by taking on the best professionals, while at the same time looking to open new offices in other countries where the market potential so allows.