Practice Group Members
Commercial Litigation and Arbitration
+(1) 787-751-8999
Commercial Litigation and Arbitration
This practice group focuses on resolving sophisticated business disputes for companies and individuals. Includes early risk assessment and demand/response strategy with a parallel ability to shift matters into arbitration or other paths that better achieve speed, confidentiality, or cost.
Administrative Agency Proceedings
Services include compliance counseling, responses to investigative subpoenas or enforcement actions, and advocacy in hearings, reconsiderations, and judicial appeals. The group also challenges agency decisions and negotiates resolutions that preserve licenses, contracts, or market access.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Strategic guidance is provided in mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation, and settlement conferences to resolve disputes efficiently and discreetly. The team also drafts tailored ADR clauses to fit deal-specific risks and avoid future uncertainty.
Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Covers compliance with U.S. federal antitrust laws and Puerto Rico competition and unfair-trade statutes. Support includes pre-transaction antitrust risk reviews for mergers, acquisitions, exclusivity arrangements, and joint ventures, plus advice on pricing, distribution, and competitor collaborations. Representation extends to government investigations and private litigation alleging monopolization, price-fixing, bid-rigging, or other anticompetitive conduct.
Arbitration
Full-cycle arbitration representation is offered in domestic and cross-border disputes, including complex commercial, construction, securities, IP, and labor matters. Post-award services include confirmation, enforcement, or challenges, and counseling on arbitrator selection and jurisdictional issues.
Banking and Financial Services
Financial institutions receive counseling on Puerto Rico and federal regulatory regimes, including BSA/AML, consumer-protection rules, sanctions compliance, OCIF oversight, and SEC/OCC/Federal Reserve requirements. Transactional support covers financial-sector M&A, and loan structuring. The practice also litigates defaults, foreclosures, fraud, and regulatory investigations, paired with proactive compliance audits and training.
Bids
Assistance is provided in competitive bid processes, with emphasis on public procurement and regulated bidding environments. Services include proposal drafting, responsiveness and eligibility reviews, and strategy for scoring, teaming, and subcontracting rules.
Commercial Litigation
Handles a broad range of disputes, including breach of contract, fraud, trade-secret and IP claims, unfair competition, product liability, fiduciary-duty breaches, and corporate governance conflicts. Representation covers all phases—injunctive relief, discovery, dispositive motions, trial, and appeals—while keeping settlement and ADR options active.
Condominium Law
Represents condominium associations, boards, managers, and unit owners under Puerto Rico’s Condominium Act. Services include governance and election disputes, interpretation and amendment of bylaws, assessment and collection issues, budgeting and insurance matters, and conflicts over common-area use or maintenance obligations. When disagreements escalate, the team litigates or mediates to protect property values and association stability.
Construction Law and Litigation
Advises owners, developers, contractors, and subcontractors on contract drafting and negotiation, project risk allocation, permitting, and compliance with building-code and licensing rules. Litigation and arbitration work includes defects, delays, change-order disputes, payment claims, performance terminations, and mechanics’ liens. The practice also navigates insurance, bonding, indemnity, and warranty issues across the project lifecycle.
Consumer and Retail Law
Guides businesses on compliance with Puerto Rico and federal consumer-protection rules for advertising, labeling, pricing, warranties, and privacy. The group assists with e-commerce compliance, and risk management for consumer-facing operations. Representation includes defending DACO/FTC investigations and consumer class actions, as well as litigating false-advertising.
Distribution & Franchising
Counsels companies on structuring and operating distribution and franchise systems in Puerto Rico, including agreement drafting, renewals, transfers, and territory protections. Advice considers local franchise/distribution rules and federal disclosure requirements, with attention to royalties and brand-control provisions. The team represents parties in disputes over termination, non-performance, encroachment, and trademark misuse.
Eminent Domain/Condemnation
Represents property owners facing government takings for infrastructure or development projects. Services include valuation analysis, negotiation for just compensation, and litigation challenging improper takings, partial condemnations, or flawed procedures. The practice is attuned to business-property and undeveloped-land cases where damages and highest-and-best-use are heavily contested.
Entertainment & Media
Advises artists, producers, studios, labels, and digital creators on rights protection and commercial exploitation of content. Work includes negotiating talent, production, licensing, sponsorship, and distribution agreements, plus counseling on royalties and chain-of-title. The team litigates infringement, breach-of-contract, and rights-ownership disputes in Puerto Rico and federal forums.
Estates and Inheritance Matters
Provides estate planning under Puerto Rico’s Civil Code and federal tax rules, including wills, trusts, and succession strategies for family and business assets. Services include probate administration, fiduciary counseling, and tax-efficient wealth transfer planning. The group handles inheritance disputes such as will contests, undue influence claims, and trust-validity challenges.
Government Contracts & Government Procurement
Guides companies through Puerto Rico procurement law and federal contracting rules, from bid strategy and proposal submission to negotiation and compliance during performance. Representation includes bid protests, award challenges, disputes over non-performance or termination, and payment claims. The team also supports audits and investigations tied to government projects and helps manage subcontracting requirements.
Health
Advises hospitals, clinics, providers, and practitioners on regulatory compliance, licensing, and operational risk under Puerto Rico law and federal programs like HIPAA and ACA. Litigation includes disputes over patient rights or provider relationships. Transactional support covers healthcare mergers, affiliations, and facility expansions.
Intellectual Property Protection
Protects trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets for Puerto Rico-based and inbound companies, including registration, portfolio management, and commercialization. Work includes licensing, technology transfers, and IP provisions in broader commercial deals. Enforcement ranges from cease-and-desist strategy to litigation and ADR against infringement, counterfeiting, or misappropriation.
Labor & Employment Litigation
Represents employers and employees in disputes under Puerto Rico and federal labor regimes, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage-and-hour claims. The team handles union and labor-board matters, class and collective actions, and benefit/leave controversies. Matters are pursued through litigation, arbitration, or settlement, depending on business needs.
Land Use, Zoning, and Planning
Counsels developers, landowners, and municipalities on zoning classifications, variances, permits, site approvals, and compliance with planning and environmental rules. Representation includes advocacy in public hearings and administrative appeals, and litigation challenging or defending zoning decisions. The practice also coordinates land-use issues tied to infrastructure projects and eminent-domain actions.
Mediation and Dispute Resolution
Provides mediation advocacy and broader ADR support for commercial, employment, real estate, and regulatory conflicts. Services include preparing mediation briefs, negotiating settlement frameworks, and coordinating expert or financial analyses needed to close deals. Arbitration support is also available when mediation fails or a binding process is preferred.
Privacy, Cybersecurity, Social Media, and Digital Workplace
Advises companies on Puerto Rico Data Privacy Act compliance and relevant U.S. privacy standards, including data-mapping, notices, and vendor controls. Guidance on social-media governance and digital-workplace monitoring helps reduce reputational and regulatory risk.
Public Utility Law
Represents utilities and stakeholders before the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau and other regulators on rates, service obligations, approvals, and compliance under energy-transformation statutes. The practice supports administrative filings, contested proceedings, and judicial appeals. Counsel also addresses environmental, infrastructure, and public-private coordination issues affecting utility operations.
Real Estate
Handles real estate transactions and disputes for buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, and developers. Work includes purchase and lease negotiations, financings, development and zoning compliance, foreclosures/evictions, and title or boundary conflicts. Litigation and ADR services are available for construction-adjacent or landlord-tenant disputes.
Securities Related Disputes
Represents investors, brokers, and issuers in securities fraud, suitability, misrepresentation, and fiduciary-duty claims. The team appears in FINRA arbitrations and proceedings before the SEC and Puerto Rico regulators. Strategy focuses on minimizing exposure, protecting licensure, and resolving disputes without unnecessary market or reputational harm.
Taxation
Provides planning, compliance, and controversy support under Puerto Rico and federal tax regimes. Services include audit defense before Hacienda, the IRS, and municipalities, as well as litigation over assessments, exemptions, or penalties. Advice spans sales and use tax, property tax, corporate and individual income tax, and transactional structuring.
Telecommunications
Counsels telecom providers on FCC and Puerto Rico requirements for infrastructure build-outs, rates, and customer privacy. The team handles regulatory disputes and supports transactions or reorganizations in the sector. Litigation and ADR are available for carrier-to-carrier conflicts, infrastructure siting disputes, or consumer claims.
Trademarks
Assists clients with clearance searches, registration at the Puerto Rico and U.S. federal levels, and portfolio maintenance. Brand-protection strategy covers licensing, policing, and anti-counterfeiting programs. The group litigates oppositions, cancellations, infringement, and unfair-competition claims in local and federal courts.
Transportation
Representation includes cargo and passenger claims, insurance and liability disputes, and enforcement actions by regulators. Matters are resolved through litigation or arbitration depending on forum and contract requirements.
