Carlos Vasconcellos joins the firm officially today, where he will work in the banking and corporate areas, with a special focus on international corporate finance. He will be the Paraguay office’s second partner, working alongside Nestor Loizaga.
Vasconsellos, who grew up in Paraguay’s capital, Asunción, explains that his decision to return was jointly motivated by Ferrere’s reputation, and his view that it is “the right time to come back to Paraguay”. Citing the country’s double digit GDP growth, and increased interest from both foreign and local investors, Vasconsellos says that lawyers are doing “extremely interesting and challenging” work. “It’s the country to watch right now,” he says. Vasconsellos adds that although he was “very lucky to study and work in the US”, he has always felt “a moral obligation and personal desire” to return to Paraguay.
Additionally, Vasconsellos says he views Ferrere as “the perfect match”, given it is one of the few firms in Paraguay which is not based on a family model. Support from the offices in Uruguay and Bolivia also means that the team can engage in more challenging work. “I think it’ll be a great base for me to develop professionally,” he says.
Cerisola explains that hiring Vasconsellos was the result of his US experience in banking and M&A and part of a strategy to repatriate “top talent around the world” to Paraguay and Bolivia. The move follows the hire of Lindsay Sykes, a US lawyer and former Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP associate, and the promotion to partner of US educated Carlos Pinto, who has previously worked for Mayer Brown LLP, in the Bolivia office.
Hiring lawyers with US capabilities forms part of Ferrere’s bid to integrated its service offer in Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. “We see our mission as one of making sure global clients have in the small jurisdictions of Latin America legal services of a quality comparable to those these companies receive in their home markets,” Cerisola says.