Skip to main content

Big Law in Venezuela: From Globalization to Revolution

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 222 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Venezuelan corporate lawyers during the period 1994–2014, a time in which the country experienced abrupt changes in its political orientation and economic policies. Venezuela has lived through several ups and downs intertwined with the rise, development and growth of the energy sector. As a result, a great capacity to improvise, to adapt to new challenges and also the skills to interact with a politically unstable situation have accompanied Venezuelan business lawyers since the opening of the first law firms in the nineteenth century. Their successors are just putting into practice their seemingly inherited adaptability and skills to navigate in choppy waters, but have also evolved and undergone important transformations influenced by their interaction with foreign lawyers, multinational clients and the overall impact of globalization. This chapter describes how Venezuelan law firms have adapted, and even adopted some features typically present in global law firms, but at the same time have also managed to keep their own identity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   159.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The firm was originally known as Gil, Vargas & Torres.

  2. 2.

    http://abogadosagp.com.

  3. 3.

    http://www.antequera.com.ve.

  4. 4.

    http://www.araquereyna.com/.

  5. 5.

    http://www.bakermckenzie.com/Venezuela/Caracas/.

  6. 6.

    http://www.bpmaw.com/.

  7. 7.

    http://www.bentata.com.

  8. 8.

    http://www.dra.com.ve/.

  9. 9.

    http://www.dlainterjuris.com.

  10. 10.

    http://www.hoganlovells.com/caracas/.

  11. 11.

    http://lma.com.ve.

  12. 12.

    http://www.littler.com/locations/caracas.

  13. 13.

    http://www.menpa.com.

  14. 14.

    http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/latin-america/offices/caracas/.

  15. 15.

    All four partners were international, which means that they have participation in the revenues of all offices of the firm.

  16. 16.

    Includes eight international partners, and five local partners.

  17. 17.

    Includes 11 international partners, and 7 local partners.

  18. 18.

    http://www.rodnermartinez.com.

  19. 19.

    http://www.romen.com/.

  20. 20.

    http://www.ttpn.com.ve.

  21. 21.

    http://www.tpa.com.ve/.

  22. 22.

    http://www.traviesoevans.com.

  23. 23.

    http://www.wdalegal.com/.

  24. 24.

    http://www.clydeco.com/offices/caracas/.

  25. 25.

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1999-01-22/business/9901220235_1_growth-strategies-brazil-hector-davis.

  26. 26.

    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Steel+Hector+%26+Davis.-a071710667.

  27. 27.

    http://www.wdalegal.com/index.php.

  28. 28.

    http://www.chambersandpartners.com/229/354/editorial/9/1.

  29. 29.

    Argentina topped the list as a result of the multiple of claims filed against it by disgruntled investors affected by the economic collapse of 2001.

  30. 30.

    http://www.shearman.com.

  31. 31.

    http://www.foleyhoag.com/.

  32. 32.

    http://www.quepasa.cl/articulo/ojos-de-la-llave/2012/03/17-7924-9-chavez-cambia-estrategia-contra-chilenos-en-ciadi.shtml.

  33. 33.

    http://linkis.com/www.lawgazette.co.uk/iz5kG.

  34. 34.

    http://www.littler.com/.

  35. 35.

    http://www.iflr1000.com/newsandanalysis/hoet-pelaez-incorporates-legal-boutique/index/291

  36. 36.

    http://www.chambersandpartners.com/15649/2357/editorial/2/4.

  37. 37.

    http://www.thelawyer.com/turnover-and-pep-up-at-holland-and-knight/1011405.article.

  38. 38.

    http://www.dlainterjuris.com/en/team/?pg=1.

  39. 39.

    http://www.dlainterjuris.com/en/about-us/.

References

  • Brooke, James. 1994. Venezuela Proposes Opening Oil Industry to Private Investment. The New York Times, April 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canova, Antonio. 2009. La realidad del Contencioso Administrativo Venezolano (Fundación Estudios de Derecho Administrativo).

    Google Scholar 

  • Canova, González, Herrera Orellana, Rodríguez Ortega, and Graterol Stefanelli. 2014. El TSJ al servicio de la revolución. Galipán: Caracas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galanter, Marc, and Nick Robinson. 2013. India’s Grand Advocates: A Legal Elite Flourishing in the Era of Globalization. International Journal of the Legal Profession 20 (3): 241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez, Manuel A. 2003. Los abogados de negocios en Venezuela. Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Central de Venezuela 125: 23–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. All in the Family: The Influence of Social Networks on Dispute Processing. Doctoral Dissertation Submitted to Stanford University (On File with Author).

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Political Activism and the Practice of Law in Venezuela. In Cultures of Legality: Judicialization and Political Activism in Latin America, ed. J. Couso, A. Huneeus, and R. Sieder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. Greasing the Squeaky Wheel of Justice: Lawyers, Social Networks and Dispute Processing. In Lawyers and the Rule of Law in an Era of Globalization, ed. Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Malleable Law: The (mis)Use of Legal Tools in the Pursuit of a Political Agenda. ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law 19: 509–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krivoy, Ruth de. 2000. Collapse: The Venezuelan Banking Crisis of 1994. Group of Thirty.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Perdomo, Rogelio. 1981. Los abogados en Venezuela. Caracas: Monteávila.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. Oil Lawyers and the Globalization of Venezuelan Oil Industry. In Rules and Networks: The Legal Culture of Global Legal Transactions, ed. R. Appelbaum, W. Felstiner, and V. Gessner. Oxford: Hart.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. La educación jurídica en Venezuela 1960–2005: expansión y diferenciación. In La educación jurídica en América Latina. Tensiones e innovaciones en tiempos de globalización, ed. R. Pérez Perdomo and J. Rodríguez Torres. Bogotá: Universidad Externado de Colombia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tejera Pérez, Victorino J. 2012. Arbitraje de Inversiones en Venezuela. Colección Estudios Jurídicos No. 97, Editorial Jurídica Venezolana, Caracas.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gómez, M., Pérez-Perdomo, R. (2018). Big Law in Venezuela: From Globalization to Revolution. In: Gómez, M., Pérez-Perdomo, R. (eds) Big Law in Latin America and Spain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65403-4_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics