The Firm: According to sources, this high-octane operation “has what it takes to triumph at the top” of the increasingly dynamic Costa Rican legal market. Indeed, it possesses “a superb and well-prepared team, a highly coveted clientele, a second-to-none international network of offices and contacts and a historic reputation for excellence.” While sophisticated international taxation, tax planning for high net worth individuals and domestic real estate work are now its calling cards, the team continues to enjoy a growing influx of work in the fields of M&A, corporate, dispute resolution and IP. Among other recent highlights, it advised Sky on the acquisition of the operations of DirecTV in Central America and the structuring of a joint venture with local partners to develop the market in the region.

The Lawyers: “A savvy superstar of a lawyer,” Humberto Pacheco “clearly stands heads and shoulders above the market” with his signature international tax planning expertise. In an unusual departure from his purely transactional daily workload, Pacheco is currently assisting a client in a USD100 million tax litigation involving several European jurisdictions. He is also at the helm of a team currently laying the groundwork for a multibillion-euro European takeover in 2008 on behalf of a client.

While perhaps best known for his Central American commercial real estate work, Freddy Fachler has a “well-rounded generalist practice,” and he scoops top recommendations for his international M&A and corporate workload.

Hernán Pacheco earns enormous respect from peers and clients for his "terrific negotiating skills" in corporate and M&A deals. In tune with current market trends and the firm’s overall outlook, he enjoys growing visibility in M&A transactions in the real estate sector. He acted for an international hotel chain in a joint venture to develop a USD50 million hotel and condominium project in Papagayo.

“On a scale from one to ten, he is an 11” was but one of the compliments lavished by the market on managing partner Alejandro Antillón. He is credited with much of the firm’s current visibility in the domestic market, particularly in real estate. Such transactions and related tax and finance structuring issues feature heavily in his daily caseload, as do international corporate and tax matters. Antillón is currently assisting a major developer in the construction, structuring, registration and lease of a high-end shopping centre in the North Pacific area of Costa Rica, a booming hotel development spot.