South America

Gibson Dunn Opens an Office in Brazil

Lisa Alfaro, a corporate partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, says the Brazilian market holds a lot of potential for her law firm. Clients in the United States as well as Europe and Asia are interested in opportunities in Brazil because it’s “one of the few places where you can…

Jun 17, 2009 2:48 PM CDT

As Traffic Movie Predicted, Cocaine is Now a Popular Molding Material

Remember the scene in Traffic in which Catherine Zeta-Jones, playing the wife of an imprisoned dealer, negotiates an exclusive deal to provide a Mexican druglord with seeming toys manufactured from cocaine? As the druglord watches, she dissolves a toy and sets up a line of coke, but refuses to partake…

Mar 21, 2009 2:37 AM CDT

Senator Requests Asylum for Gay Man in Same-Sex Marriage

Sen. John Kerry has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to grant asylum to a gay man married in Massachusetts who was deported despite his rape in Brazil. Oliveira had sought asylum because he was raped as a teenager and feared additional attacks if he returned to the country, the Associated…

Mar 20, 2009 6:13 PM CDT

Failed US-Led Drug War Harms Foreign Judicial Systems, Report Says

Escalating violence in Mexico and Latin America from a failed U.S.-led war on drugs is putting democratic governments and their judicial systems and police forces at risk, says a report by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy. Headed by three former Latin American heads of state, the group…

Feb 13, 2009 12:42 AM CST

‘Stolen Lives’: Mom’s Search for Abducted Adult Daughter

For more than six years, Susana Trimarco has been searching for her daughter, Marita Veron, in a saga that has taken her to seamy areas amidst potentially dangerous people. Then 23, the young woman left home on April 3, 2002 for a doctor’s appointment, telling her mother she would be…

Sep 22, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

Ecuador Indicts Two Chevron Lawyers Over Environmental Certification

Ecuador has charged two lawyers for Chevron with a conspiracy to fraudulently certify an environmental cleanup of mines by its predecessor Texaco. The accused lawyers are in-house lawyer Ricardo Reis Veiga and outside counsel Rodrigo Perez Pallares, the American Lawyer reports. Chevron issued a statement saying the indictments are related…

Sep 15, 2008 2:21 PM CDT

Colombia’s 2,800 Kidnap Victims Spark Talk Radio Program

Despite the recent high-profile Colombian army rescue last week of politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 others held captive by kidnappers for years, some 2,800 others are still being held by Colombian kidnappers, most for ransom. The number of victims, which is the most in any country in the world, has…

Jul 7, 2008 5:34 PM CDT

Latin Launch for DLA Piper? Firm Mulls Possible Brazil, Miami Offices

Although it already has an active Latin American practice, DLA Piper doesn’t have any offices in South America. That may soon change, predicts the Lawyer, now that the firm has added former McDermott Will & Emery tax partner Stuart Berkson to its attorney roster. With 28 years of experience in…

Jun 10, 2008 5:21 PM CDT

Special Prosecutor Named in Case Stemming from Improperly Named Defendants

A special prosecutor has been appointed to pursue a sanctions case against two plaintiffs lawyers in connection with misstatements made in a toxic-tort case. A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appointed the prosecutor to pursue the case against Thomas Girardi and Walter Lack, the…

Jun 10, 2008 2:44 PM CDT

Major Firms Opening in Brazil, ‘the New Middle East’

Two New York-based international law firms are the latest to announce that they are opening offices in Brazil, billed as “the new Middle East” by a legal publication. A boom in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and infrastructure projects is driving the deluge of new law office openings, most recently…

Jun 9, 2008 7:45 PM CDT

Luxe Prison Life: Plasma TV, King-Size Bed & $172K in Cash

The space wasn’t big—after all, it was a prison cell. But Genilson Lino da Silva, unlike other prisoners, reportedly had it all to himself. Plus, the convicted gangster had somehow managed to furnish it in deluxe fashion. The cell contained a plasma television, king-size bed, a DVD player, two guns…

Jun 5, 2008 4:04 PM CDT

Colombia Extradites 14 Warlords to Face US Drug Charges

Updated: In an unexpected move this morning, Colombia extradited what a Florida newspaper describes as 14 notorious paramilitary warlords to face cocaine-trafficking charges in the United States. The 14 were put on planes to New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami, reports the Miami Herald. They include: Hernán Giraldo (aka “Pablo…

May 13, 2008 6:28 PM CDT

Prof Promotes Latin American Legal Rights With CDs, Fashion Shows

An assistant dean at California Western law school in San Diego is trying to improve Latin American legal systems with innovative and offbeat projects. James Cooper says he worked for 15 months at Baker & McKenzie before he tired of “making the world safe for McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Levis,” he…

May 8, 2008 4:08 PM CDT

Law School Accepts 8-Year-Old

An 8-year-old boy who passed the entrance exam was enrolled in a Brazilian law school. However, his academic career there came to an abrupt end when school officials realized he couldn’t yet have graduated from high school, which is a prerequisite for admission. “The Universidade Paulista, a multi-campus private university,…

Mar 7, 2008 2:06 AM CST

Attorney Avatars Create Virtual Bar, Virtual Law & Virtual CLE Courses

In many ways, it looked like a standard bar association meeting. But the woman clad in an orange tutu and thigh-high black stockings offered one clue that the attorneys attending the Oct. 20, 2007 meeting in the Second Life Bar Association’s conference room were actually avatars—animated characters created to represent…

Jan 8, 2008 8:29 PM CST