Dispute Resolution
Nicaragua
José Ramón Paz
Benito Arturo Zelaya Cálix
Gerardo Hernandez
Jose Ramón Paz P is a co-founder of Consortium Legal – Honduras where he is currently the managing partner and a practitioner in the banking law, mergers and acquisitions and agency and partnership groups. As a practitioner he has recently coordinated and participated in large cross-border financial transactions, involving multinational banks and local and regional institutional borrowers, also structuring guarantee solutions through trusts in some of those cases. He has been a substitute judge of the Supreme Court in Honduras, has participated in cross-border financial transactions for amounts ranging between US$30 million and US$1,700 million, involving international banks and local and regional borrowers, structuring guarantee trusts for some of them, participated in cross-border mergers and acquisitions for amounts ranging between US$50 million and US$650 million, involving foreign purchasers and local sellers, among other matters. Jose holds an LLM with orientation in financial institutions and transactions from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, United States (1982) and a Juris Doctor with specialisation in commercial law and banking law from the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), Honduras (1978). He speaks Spanish and English.
Benito is a well-rounded lawyer with special expertise in arbitration, litigation and corporate law. He believes that through the practice of law it´s possible to contribute in the development of the Central American region, and that´s why he decided to practice law, to create a positive impact on society. He has steered his career to practice areas that have a profound impact in the economy, of his country and justice in general. With this in mind, Benito has a specialized practice in Arbitration and litigation for the regulated sector in the following industries: Infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, concessions, public-private partnerships, banking, and distribution contracts, where he believes his contributions will have a lasting and profound impact. As of today following this vision he advises airports, infrastructure companies, energy transmission and generation corporations, telecommunications and several public-private partnerships in Honduras. Understanding the importance of corporations in the development of the region, Benito also leads the corporate department of the firm. For the last few years, the firm has been at the forefront of advising Public-Private Partnerships, contributing to the widespread use of this option in the structuring of complex infrastructure projects. Benito has also been part of a number of arbitration tribunals as institutional and ad-hoc arbitrator, where he decided to get involved to contribute not only as litigator but also as decider, in order to have further impact in the justice sector. Through the practice of law, lawyers can be agents of change in their societies. By focusing his career in areas of the law where the impact affects thousands of people, Benito seeks to be that agent of change through sound advice, ethical approach and out of the box impactful solutions.
Gerardo is a partner at Consortium Legal – Nicaragua, with over 25 years of experience in the food and beverage, banking and financial services, real estate, energy, and retail sectors. He has extensive experience in conflict resolution, particularly in litigation and arbitration. He has litigated in the civil and commercial areas and is a certified commercial arbitrator of the Mediation and Arbitration Center Antonio Leiva Pérez of the Chamber of Commerce and Services of Nicaragua. He has led the firm’s litigation team in the country’s most noteworthy cases. He is currently one of the most referenced litigation attorneys at the regional level by Central America 2019 - Benchmark Research. He has taught at Nicaragua’s main universities and at the Judicial School in undergraduate, master’s, and postgraduate programs in the areas of civil procedure, insolvency, and commercial arbitration. Author of the Manual of Civil Procedure and co-author of several manuals of International Commercial Arbitration in Ibero-America. Gerardo has been the Team Leader on behalf of a Fortune Top 10 company in an arbitration process consisting of a lawsuit for breach of contract and damages of more than US$10 million. The process concluded with a favourable resolution to our client reflected in an award that ordered to pay less than US$600,000. He has also been Co-Counsel and expert in Nicaraguan law in the representation of a client of the medical supplies industry in a civil process in the State of Florida in which a breach of fiduciary obligation, unfair competition, violation of confidentiality obligation was exercised, which concluded with a favorable sentence for the client for more than twelve million dollars.
Consortium Legal
Primera Calle # 304 Torre Consortium I. Colonia La Estancia Final del Bulevar Morazán. Tegucigalpa Tel: +504 2221 1002 jrpaz@consortiumlegal.com www.consortiumlegal.com
WWL says: José Ramón Paz has acted for clients in a range of work including negotiations and arbitration in finance, real estate and infrastructure.
Lexincorp Central American Law Firm
Colonia Lomas del Guijarro Sur Calle Roma, Avenida Berlín Tegucigalpa Tel: +504 2263 5902 bzelaya@lexincorp.com www.lexincorp.com
WWL says: Benito Arturo Zelaya Cálix gains high praise from market sources as “a pleasure to work with” and “an excellent practitioner” for complex commercial disputes. whoswholegal.com
Consortium Legal
Del antiguo Hospital Militar 1 cuadra al Norte Managua Tel: +505 2254 5454 ghernandez@consortiumlegal.com www.consortiumlegal.com
WWL says: Gerardo Hernández from Consortium Legal impresses as “a leading professional” when it comes to handling conflict resolution in civil and commercial litigation. 47
