Caracas-based law firm Hoet Pelaez Castillo & Duque has opened an office in the Caribbean through a strategic alliance.
Hoet Pelaez formed an alliance with Aruba-headquartered Gomez & Bikker on December 1, and opened a bureau on the island. The alliance does not change the dynamics of the respective firms’ partnerships, but rather, according to Hoet Pelaez name partner Franklin Hoet-Linares, gives his firm a better reach in the Caribbean.
“This initiative reinforces the services that HPCD renders to its Asian, European, and U.S. clients, not just in Venezuela but also in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Hoet-Linares said in a release. “It also allows us to better assist our Venezuelan clients in Aruba and the rest of the Caribbean with business and commercial transactions. There are many reasons why we selected Aruba, primarily its sound economy and the opportunities it offers to international investors in certain specific sectors of its economy.”
Aruba’s stable political climate and the island’s tourism, energy, natural resources, oil and gas, and retail sectors are alluring to investors.
“It is expected that the Caribbean will evolve dramatically within the years to come due to many factors,” Hoet-Linares told IFLR1000. “Among them, the expected change of politics in Cuba, the development of ports facilities for cruisers, new airports, and the improvement of the connectivity with Europe and the U.S., which will bring new investments to this region. Accordingly, we believe that our new alliance will aid this development, and we can contribute to improve the legislation of certain countries, and to participate in this dynamic development. Our wish is to grow together.”
In addition to its office in Aruba, Gomez & Bikker has offices in Amsterdam, Bonaire, Curacao, Ecuador, St. Maarten, and Washington.
The alliance is the latest step in an aggressive expansion on the part of Hoet Pelaez. In October 2013, the firm expanded its corporate, labor, and dispute resolution practices with the incorporation of all nine lawyers on the staff of boutique Mangieri Benavente & Asociados. The incorporation represented a crucial component of a strategic initiative set in motion two years ago.
“All strategy is planned, nowadays in Venezuela, mainly in accordance with the legislative, economic, and political developments,” Hoet-Linares explained. “The incorporation of the nine labor lawyers last year, as well as the three tax lawyers the year before, to our corporate and commercial division was because of an increase of work in labor and tax matters. The strategic alliance with Gomez & Bikker is based on our common goal of reinforcing our presence and services to better serve our present clients and future clients taking advantage of the fast development of the economy in Aruba and the rest of the Dutch Caribbean.”