Media

Oct 30, 2009

World Law Group Admits Prieto & Carrizosa as New Member in Colombia

Westfield, New Jersey/The World Law Group is pleased to announce that representatives of member firms attending its recent Fall 2009 Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland voted unanimously to approve the admission of Bogotá-based Prieto & Carrizosa as the World Law Group’s member firm in Colombia.

Founded in 1988, the World Law Group is a global alliance of 49 leading independent law firms with more than 10,500 lawyers operating in over 55 countries and 260 major business centres around the world.

Pursuing a strategy of careful growth, with new members added only as the needs of existing member firms and their clients dictate, the WLG had undertaken an extensive search for the right member firm in Colombia, a fast-developing investment and business market for many multinational companies. That search culminated in an invitation to Prieto & Carrizosa to attend the Zurich meeting where the firm was admitted to membership.

Prieto & Carrizosa is widely considered one of the top full-service law firms in Colombia as well as the country’s most dynamic in terms of growth and innovation in positioning itself to work effectively with U.S. and other international law firms and clients. For example, the 2009 edition of PLC Which Lawyer? ranks Prieto & Carrizosa at the top of its chart and recommends eight of its partners either as leading, highly recommended or recommended individuals in their fields of practice. The current edition of Chambers Global refers to it as “a top choice for cross-border and region-wide transactions.”

Founded October 1, 1994 after a merger of its two predecessor firms headed by founding partners Juan Manuel Prieto and Martín Carrizosa, the firm has 10 partners and 70 fee-earners overall.  Señores Prieto and Carrizosa travelled to Zurich to present their firm’s credentials to the World Law Group’s membership.

“We are delighted to add a firm of such high calibre to the World Law Group’s membership,” said incoming WLG President Ian Davis of Minter Ellison in Australia. With Colombia’s recent impressive growth record (GDP reached 8.2% in 2007), its increasingly open and stable business environment (it was rated the most “business friendly” country in Latin America in the World Bank's Doing Business Report (2010), and the soaring confidence it is earning from investors (direct foreign investment has increased 400% since 2002 and reached USD 10.5 billion in 2008), the country is becoming an important emerging economic player on the world stage, Mr. Davis noted.

“Prieto & Carrizosa’s admission as the World Law Group’s member firm in Colombia provides our member firms and their clients with the ability to access the expertise, resources and contacts of a premier legal adviser in one of South America’s most promising economies,” he added.

During its meeting in Zurich, the World Law Group also admitted CMS in Russia as its new member for that country. Read more here.

For more information, contact:
Shelley Boyes
The World Law Group
Tel: +1 416 532 291-
Email:

For more information about the World Law Group, visit www.theworldlawgroup.com
For more information about Prieto & Carrizosa, visit www.prietocarrizosa.com