The Press Release
We’re honored to introduce The 2026 Lawdragon 100 Lawyers You Need to Know in South America.
This extraordinary group of lawyers bring their skills in international arbitration, infrastructure development, M&A, energy finance, investigations and many other specialties to a region in the global spotlight. The lawyers recognized here work in many cases at firms that are among the world’s most powerful, based in the U.S., South America or elsewhere. They chiefly represent corporate interests, which is the criteria for this guide.
However, each of them deals with the ripples from the impact of a raft of other actions, many of them allegedly extra-judicial. That matrix involves some of the world’s top civil rights, criminal defense and other lawyers whose legal work will have vast implications in this region. Standout criminal defense lawyer Barry Pollack of Harris St. Laurent in D.C. is defending deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy. Baher Azmy of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York alongside the ACLU is suing on behalf of those killed in boat strikes in the Caribbean. At this writing, Cuba is still under threat of being taken over.
Against this quickly shifting geopolitical backdrop, the lawyers, as ever, continue the work.
Among this year’s honorees for this guide is Nicole Duclos, the head of Covington’s Latin America Initiative. Based in New York, she is a renowned international arbitrator who has worked on disputes in a vast range of jurisdictions and before countless boards and authorities. Her Latin America portfolio of projects has involved construction of toll roads in South America, a post-M&A dispute involving the majority shareholder of a Latin American financial institution, a Korean engineering company in a dispute with a South American State agency over a major infrastructure project in South America, and leading mining companies in arbitrations arising out of major mining projects in South America. Born in Chile, she earned her law degree from the Universidad de Valparaíso then received her LL.M. from Harvard Law School.
Augusto ‘Gus’ E. Maxwell is head of the Cuba practice at Akerman in Miami. A Cuban American, he has worked since 2003 on efforts at normalization, helping Fortune 500 and other businesses develop viable interests in Cuba. He helped a home-sharing company successfully launch its Cuba operation, represented JetBlue in becoming the first U.S. air carrier to regularly travel to and from the island, and helped Stonegate Bank become the first U.S. commercial bank to form a correspondent relationship with a Cuban bank. Recently, he has advised on the Trump Administration’s travel ban and other developments throwing the region into uncertainty.
J. Mathias von Bernuth is an M&A partner in Skadden’s São Paulo office. He provides New York law advice to a range of Brazilian, Latin American and international companies; works on cross-border investigations for entities and boards of directors; and handles massive debt and equity offerings and restructuring. He received his Dr. jur. From the University of Munich and his LL.M. from Columbia University Law School. Among his notable M&A work is representing the board of directors of the educational tech company Arco Platform Limited in taking the company private, Embraer S.A. in its contemplated $4.2B sale of 80 percent of its commercial aircraft and services company to Boeing and Hidrovias do Brasil in the acquisition of the South American shipping business of Imperial Logistics Ltd.
We selected this guide seeking lawyers practicing in South America as well as global lawyers whose practices either largely focus on South America or whose cases or deals include some of the biggest matters on that continent. We used our time-honed process combining fabulous nominations (gracias! Obrigado!) with journalistic research and discussions/vetting with peers and experts.
As with our prior 100 lists, this is our take on the leading lights across a sampling of firms and practices. It is our 2nd edition of a snapshot guide to lawyers that corporate America needs to know in one of the world’s most vibrant regions, with treasure troves of resources, people and, of course, lawyers.
Those with asterisks are members of our Hall of Fame.
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