Cuatrecasas appoints 2 new partners in Colombia, Chile

Their incorporations ratify the firm's commitment to consolidate its leadership in all the jurisdictions in which it is present in Latin America, the firm said in a statement.

With 18 years of experience, Michel Diban has developed his professional career advising clients in complex transactions, focusing on M&A operations, especially in the energy, technology and infrastructure sectors. In the last few years, he has led the advice in processes of acquisition, sale, merger and restructuring of Chilean and international companies, both in Chile and in other Latin American jurisdictions, including Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Peru.

A magna cum laude lawyer from Universidad de los Andes in Chile and with an LLM from Northwestern University in Chicago, Diban is a professor of the LLM course at Universidad de los Andes and has been highlighted as a leading corporate/M&A lawyer in specialized rankings.

"I am excited to join this great professional and human team, and to have the opportunity to contribute to the growth of the local and international M&A area. Undoubtedly, Cuatrecasas is quickly positioning itself as a leading firm in Chile and Latin America, as it is in Spain, and I am very happy to be part of this project," Diban said.

For his part, Jaime Vargas is a graduate of the Universidad Externado de Colombia, with a specialization in taxation from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. He has more than 30 years of experience as a tax advisor, especially in mergers and acquisitions, national and international tax planning, wealth management and taxes applied to specific sectors such as energy, oil and gas, among others.

In addition, Vargas is a professor of tax law at the Externado and serves as president of the Academic Commission of the Colombian Institute of Tax Law (ICDT).

On joining the Cuatrecasas office in Bogotá, Vargas said: "I have been attracted to Cuatrecasas by the quality of its team and its focus on meeting clients' needs with high quality recommendations in real time. It has achieved this by attracting professionals, both young and experienced, of the highest technical and personal quality, and by sincerely caring about their well-being and growth”.

“The atmosphere at the firm is energizing; there is a lot of connection between the teams, a lot of dedication and enthusiasm. I can't think of a better place to continue developing my professional practice, focused on what I like: the creation of teams with the necessary capacity to propose practical solutions to our clients' challenges that add value, based on the understanding of their business, the characteristics of the industry in which they operate and, of course, the deep knowledge of tax matters,” he added.