Costa Rica-based firm BLP has expanded its presence in the region with the opening of a new office in Honduras. This is the third office the firm has opened in recent months. In January 2014, BLP opened an office in Nicaragua and one in El Salvador in June of that same year.
The office, based in Tegucigalpa, will staff 12 lawyers, including six partners – José Miguel Álvarez, Karla Gabriela Aguilar, Jorge Brizuela, Fernando Godoy, Lilian López and Adolfo Pineda. The team will offer counsel on corporate, M&A, financial, tax, labour, real estate, energy, customs and transportation matters.
Ronald Lachner, the partner coordinating the regionalization, says after searching for the right partners to complete its Central American capabilities, Honduras was naturally the next step into the region.
“The Honduran legal market is highly competitive,” he said. “Its business community is quite sophisticated and requires world-class advice.” “Our goal is not to open offices just to have our footprint in a certain country, but to partner with professionals who will uphold BLP´s quality standards, philosophy and culture. Jose, Lilian, Karla, Adolfo, Jorge and Fernando are top-notch attorneys who are definitively the right fit for BLP. We are focused on innovating and revolutionizing the Honduran legal market.”
Lachne added that BLP will continue its growth into Guatemala, the last link to complete the Central American region. “Talks are currently underway and we hope to open such office within the next three to six months,” he said.
The firm also announced that Thomas Alvarado has joined the firm as director of its financial advisory practice. Alvarado was a strategic consultant at Florida Ice and Farm and a financial consultant at Link 2 Capital. He also spent six years at Coca Cola and more than eight years at United States Agency for International Development.