Clyde & Co is opening a permanent office in Chile as part of a merger involving its local partner firm Grasty Quintana Majlis and construction lawyers Halpern Pino as it seeks to further Latin American growth.

The newly merged firm will be known as Clyde & Co Chile and launches with 11 local partners and a team of 40 additional lawyers who work across corporate and transactional law, litigation, tax, employment, projects and construction. Clyde & Co originally formed an association with Grasty in 2020. The new office is based in Santiago.

Lee Bacon, chair of Clyde & Co’s Latin America strategy group and a member of Clyde & Co Chile’s management board, said: “Having worked closely with Grasty over the last two years, launching this exciting new operation alongside new colleagues at Halpern Pino was the natural next step. The opening is in line with our broader strategy in Latin America; of steady expansion with teams of sector leading and well-known experts underpinned by the platform of a globally integrated firm.”

The Chile office will be led by new managing partner Franco Acchiardo alongside tax partner Mónica Justiniano, litigation and arbitration partners Jorge Meneses and Marcelo Guerreo, employment partner Christian Alvarado, corporate and M&A partners Hugo Prieto and Arturo Pino and projects and construction partner Juan Pablo Halpern. Grasty founding partners Michael Grasty, Alejandro Quintana and Arturo Majlis will continue to play a strategic role in the merged firm.

Matthew Kelsall, CEO at Clyde & Co, said: “The addition of these leading teams in our core sectors is in line with our recent steady expansion in the region and further afield. In particular, our litigation and arbitration team in the region will be enhanced by the addition of Grasty’s and Halpern’s expertise, with Halpern particularly renowned for projects and construction disputes.”

The Santiago opening adds to Clyde & Co’s existing Latin American offices in Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Caracas. Over the past year the London-headquartered firm has also opened in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver in the US, as well as Vancouver in Canada following its merger with SHK Law Corporation. 

Earlier this year, UK insurance specialist Kennedy strengthened its Latin American presence with two associations in the Andean region, including Bolivian firm López del Solar and Ecuadorian firm Tobar ZVS.