If you wanted to make a list of all the transactions that took place in Colombia over the past year, a good place to start would be law firm Brigard Urrutia.
The firm, which has operated for 90 years, and which wins Law Firm of the Year for Colombia, advised on a significant chunk of the country’s major deals in 2024.
Carlos Fradique-Méndez, Brigard Urrutia’s managing partner, says the firm’s success is rooted in knowing how to respond to the needs of each client and doing it with a deep knowledge of the sector involved.
“What distinguishes us from our colleagues is the way we relate to our clients. We establish a very close relationship with clients and our attorneys are specialists in industries, which enormously facilitates the conversation,” he says.
The firm is one of the largest in Colombia, with more than 400 people on staff, including more than 150 attorneys. It has 40 partners. It divides its work into three large areas, transactional, litigation and regulation. These umbrella categories cover more than 20 practice areas, ranging from banking and financing and to telecommunications and entertainment.
It played a role in watershed deals, including the country’s continuing highway infrastructure concessions, in the past year. It worked on the financing for Aguadulce port in Buenaventura, a project that Fradique-Méndez says showcased the firm’s expertise in the areas of project and infrastructure financing and ESG compliance.
Brigard Urrutia was special counsel to the underwriters of the sovereign’s $1.3 billion bond and a $1.85 billion bond from the state oil company, Ecopetrol. Fradique-Méndez says the Ecopetrol deal, in particular, was exemplary of the firm’s prowess across transactional and sectoral advising.
Another area that continues to grow is fintech, with the firm accompanying new and existing clients. Brigard Urrutia began focusing on the sector at the start of the decade and quickly became a go-to firm for work in the area.
“There is culture of innovation in Colombia that has allowed us as a country to have developed an important number of unicorns, initiatives that are very relevant for the country and the region. Fintech has joined areas like M&A, structured finance and litigation in importance,” he says.
While the firm has a long history working on compliance issues, the area has gained prevalence since President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022 with his reform agenda. The administration, despite setbacks with Congress, continues to push for sweeping changes.
“We have a robust compliance area and have been strengthening key areas, such as financial, labor, pension and tax regulations, which are the areas where the government is working on changes. Compliance is a critical for our clients,” says Fradique-Méndez.