“With 30 attorneys and three offices in the country, ECIJA continues to buttress its legal services hub for Central America in Costa Rica,” the firm said.

“Recent regulations in place created criminal liability for legal entities, in addition to new taxes enacted and cybercrimes, all of which expand our clientele’s demand for strategic advice and legal representation in criminal matters, and for this reason, ECIJA has launched a practice focused on economic criminal law in Costa Rica.

The practice will be led by José Francisco Madrigal, who joins the firm as of counsel.

He is a renowned criminal attorney with more than 30 years of experience in the field and has successfully handled a number of important cases, such as the defense of former presidents of Costa Rica, business leaders, ministers, judges and legislators.

José Francisco obtained his law degree from the Universidad de Costa Rica, a master’s degree in criminal law from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and a PhD in law from the Universidad de Mar del Plata in Argentina. He also has advanced studies in intellectual property law.

“The corporate and criminal law areas find greater points of confluence every day due to the existence of more severe regulations for business activity,” José Francisco Madrigal said. “It is at these points of confluence that we find the opportunity to offer my three decades of professional experience for strategic criminal assistance to ECIJA´s clients in Costa Rica,” he added.

For his part, Mauricio Paris, ECIJA’s managing partner for Central America, said: “We are excited to strengthen our dispute resolution area with the incorporation of a prominent practitioner with an impeccable reputation such as José Francisco, who also has a distinctive corporate vision of criminal law. This unique combination allows us to bolster a practice area with high added value for our clients.”

Headquartered in Spain, ECIJA also has offices in Portugal, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil and Puerto Rico, with a multidisciplinary team of more than 800 professionals.