John Pate

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Leaders in Law endorses John Pate as our exclusively recommended Aviation Law expert in Venezuela. If you wish to get in touch with John, please use the contact information provided above.

John Pate has been a member of De Sola Pate & Brown since 1981 where he chairs the international corporate and business transactions practice. His principal areas of expertise are in negotiating international business transactions, commercial and corporate law, foreign investment, licensing, franchising, international banking, project finance, commercial aviation and secured transactions.

John is the liaison of the firm with the International Business Law Consortium (IBLC) and L2B Aviation Group, two of the law firm networks of which De Sola Pate & Brown is a member.
John is registered as an International Advisor in Corporate Finance with the Bar Association of Caracas. He is admitted to practice in Massachusetts (1969) and before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Education

John received an A.B. from Brown University (1966) and his J.D. from Boston University (1969). He has also received an M.A. and an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (1971 and 1972, respectively).

Professional Affiliations

John is a member of the Bar of Massachusetts. He is active in the International (in which he is Vice Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Law Committee) and Business Law Sections of the American Bar Association. He is also a member of the Inter-American Bar Association, the American Society of International Law (in which he is Corresponding Editor of International Legal Materials), the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, the Latin American Studies Association, and the Advisory Committee of the Tulane Latin American Law Institute. John is a Fellow of the Center for International Legal Studies (Salzburg, Austria), a Director of the Entrepreneurial Center for Conciliation and Arbitration – CEDCA, Director and Secretary of the Venezuelan-American Friendship Association – AVAA, Director of the Centro Venezolano Americano – CVA, a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of VenAmCham, and Director and Secretary of the Valle Arriba Golf Club.

Previous Affiliations (in Caracas): Before joining the firm John was a professor of International Business and Latin American Integration at the Institute for Higher Administration Studies (Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración – IESA, 1974-1977), manager of the Andean Integration Department at KPMG (previously Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., from 1977-1978), and director of GRANLAW Consultores (1978-1981).

Publications

Since the 1970’s John has authored a number of articles and given conferences mainly on Venezuelan and Andean business topics. Among some of his more recent publications are the following: “Venezuela: The Law on Secured Transactions” (co-author), in Secured Transactions in International Practice (Oceana) and as “Venezuela: Normas Sobre Transacciones con Garantía” en Trabajos Jurídicos (VenAmCham, Vol. I); “Venezuela: Real Property Security” (co-author) in Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business, 2006 (Kluwer); chapters on Venezuela in Aircraft Finance: Registration, Security and Enforcement, and in Aircraft Liens and Detention Rights (Sweet & Maxwell); and the Venezuelan section in “International Legal Developments in Review: 2005” in The International Lawyer. He is also a regular contributor to Latin American Legal Developments, a monthly electronic newsletter published by the Latin American and Caribbean Law Committee of the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association.

Languages

English and Spanish.

Firm Description:

De Sola Pate & Brown is a general practice, business law firm based in Caracas, Venezuela, the origins of which date back to 1944. Its unique and qualified team of attorneys and counselors offer clients an array of globalized legal services to help promote efficient and successful business ventures in Venezuela and its neighboring countries. De Sola Pate & Brown is an active member of a number of professional associations in Venezuela, Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia, including two international legal networks with member firms in over seventy countries: the International Business Law Consortium and the L2B Aviation Group. Accordingly, De Sola Pate & Brown is one of the leading firms in Venezuela engaged in international business and cross-border transactions, having built a strong reputation after more than sixty years of experience in rendering personalized professional, ethical and cost-efficient legal services.

General Practice Areas

De Sola Pate & Brown primarily works in the commercial and corporate law areas, and has particular strengths in the fields of intellectual property (including trademarks, patents and copyrights), foreign investment, technology licensing, franchising, international banking and finance, secured transactions, capital markets, taxation, complex contract negotiations, aviation, telecommunications, cyber law, environmental regulation, employment law, commercial arbitration and conciliation, civil and commercial litigation (including administrative litigation), and related areas. De Sola Pate & Brown also has accumulated experience in other legal areas over the years, such as insurance, basic industries, customs and international trade, energy, professional sports, entertainment and fine arts.

Our Clients

De Sola Pate & Brown has a strong international orientation and traditionally most of its clients are multinational companies, international financial institutions and other foreign entities, principally from the United States, Europe, Asia and other Latin American countries. At the same time, the Firm represents a number of leading Venezuelan private sector companies and organizations. Additionally, the Firm enjoys close working relationships with many of the leading law firms around the world on behalf of the interests of our mutual clients.
The Firm Today.

De Sola Pate & Brown presently consists of a group of talented attorneys, including partners, associates and counselors, in addition to a number of paralegals and administrative staff to better serve our clients. Most of our attorneys have, or are currently pursuing, post-graduate degrees in various legal specialties. Also, a majority of our attorneys have degrees from prestigious law schools in the United States (including Harvard, Columbia, Boston University, New York University, American, and the Franklin Pierce Law Center) and Europe (including the University of Paris – Sorbonne, University of Barcelona and the University of Pompeu Fabra), and more than half our attorneys have multiple post-graduate degrees. In addition to our professional practice, members of the Firm are active in multiple Venezuelan and international legal and civic associations, holding leadership positions in many of these. Moreover, members of the Firm have been, or continue to be involved in academics, give occasional lectures to business and professional audiences, and author publications on a broad range of legal subjects.

 

Jacqueline Moreau Aymard

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Leaders in Law endorses Jacqueline Moreau Aymard as our exclusively recommended Copyright Law expert in Venezuela. If you wish to get in touch with Jacqueline, please use the contact information provided above.

I am passionate about Intellectual Property. A runner by hobby and a humanist by vocation, I share my commitment and discipline, in marathons as in my profession, giving my clients and allies the extra mile, generating distinguishable added value in the market.

With more than 25 years of experience managing a wide portfolio of clients providing legal advice to national and international companies belonging to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, mass consumption, banking, media and oil companies industries.

The following are some of the practice areas in which I have developed my professional activity; Trademark law. Copyright and related rights. Invention patents. Industrial designs and utility models. Planning and acquisition of intangibles and actions of intellectual property rights. International brand protection, unfair competition. Preventive protection and defense of domain names.

I am an active part of the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI) where I spent 9 years as a National Delegate for Venezuela, being currently President of the Asipi EDUCA Program, I was President of the Social Responsibility Committees and the Trademark Committee. I am a member of the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI) and the Venezuelan Association of Industrial Property Agents (COVAPI), where I am on the Advisory Council.

Firm Description

MGA is a firm highly specialized in the practice of Intellectual Property, Economic, Regulatory, Administrative and Corporate Law, whose mission is to excellence-oriented services to its clients in a timely and efficient way.

At MGA we have a highly qualified team composed of specialists with extensive experience in the legal and economic fields. In addition, we make available to our clients an important and extensive international network of correspondents to facilitate their business in other markets, as well as investments by foreign investors in Venezuela. We serve organizations in major sectors of the economy such as food and beverage, oil and gas, financial services, chemical-pharmaceutical industry, media and entertainment.

Our vision is to become strategic partners of our clients in a comprehensive manner through the use of our firm and network of professional partners, supported by state-of-the-art technology, with a focus on the quality and timeliness of our services.

 

Luis Alfredo Araque

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Luis Alfredo Araque is a founding partner of ARAQUEREYNA. For more than 40 years he has focused his professional practice both on Civil Law, serving as a professor at the Andrés Bello Catholic University since 1971 and the Monteávila University since 2008, as well as on Labor Law. He has also stood out in resolution of civil and business disputes, both in the judicial field as well as through alternative dispute resolution methods (conciliation and arbitration).

In the Labor Law field, Mr. Araque has played a leading role in Venezuela, having led several cases of national impact. He is responsible of the Labor Law Department of the Firm and has served as a Legal Adviser of the bicameral commission for the reform of the Venezuelan Labor Law, from 1985 through 1991, and as a consultant of the Tripartite Committee (government, employers’ and workers’ representatives) for the reform of the 1997 Labor Law. He has advised the representation of the business private sector in the discussions of various laws of a labor and social nature, including the last labor law reform of May 7, 2012. He has also represented the Venezuelan business sector in different annual meetings of the International Labor Organization.

His Litigation and Arbitration practice encompasses different sectors: construction and engineering, public works, telecommunications, and protection of foreign investments, among others. Mr. Araque has taken part in important judicial and arbitration procedures, both national and international. He has served as an arbitrator in arbitration procedures, under the arbitration regulations of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the Arbitration Center of the Caracas Chamber and the Business Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (CEDCA).

Mr. Araque has served as a Director of numerous companies and organizations, such as the Venezuelan Executives Association (AVE), the Caracas Chamber of Commerce and the Caracas Stock Exchange. Currently, he is an external advisor of the Federation of Chambers and Associations of Commerce and Production of Venezuela (Fedecámaras) and of the Caracas Chamber of Commerce.

He has published several books on legal matters, the last one being entitled Manual de Arbitraje Comercial (Commercial Arbitration Manual) (2011), which has two editions printed.

The main international legal directories (Chambers and Partners, Latin Lawyer, Practical Law, Who’s Who of Lawyers) qualify him as a reference lawyer in Venezuela, in the fields of Labor Law and Arbitration.

Luis Bottaro

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Luis Bottaro advises Venezuelan and Latin American companies in the oil, gas, petrochemical, and telecommunications sectors on matters related to energy, dispute resolution, and general corporate law.

He advises clients on regulatory energy matters, particularly regarding hydrocarbons and gaseous hydrocarbons laws, administrative law, civil and commercial codes, tax law, commercial and investments arbitrations, government contracting matters, and foreign investments protection law.

He negotiates complex government and commercial contract/licensing transactions, and advises clients concerning engineering, procurement and construction, transfer of technology, construction, and management of contracts.

Luis has been involved in numerous international arbitration procedures as in-house and external consultant, arbitrator, and expert witness. He has been included in the Arbitrators list of the Cámara de Comercio de Caracas corresponding to the ICC Paris Chapter. He is a member of the ICC Arbitrator Counsels Panel based in Caracas and is also listed as an Arbitrator in the Bolivian Arbitration Chamber.

 

Hogan Lovells:

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