Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico for Litigation
He represents U.S. and foreign clients in complex commercial litigation, bankruptcy, workouts, foreclosure and asset repossession. A member of the firm's PROMESA Task Force, Mr. Arias has been actively counseling investment funds and creditors on Puerto Rico public debt restructuring. In the aftermath of Hurricane María, he has also been involved in disaster relief consulting and procurement of reconstruction projects, particularly in the energy and healthcare fields. He also has exten...
Mrs. Arrieta-Rivera's practice includes general civil and commercial litigation with emphasis on tax disputes and tax litigation, complex class actions, complex litigation, tort law, healthcare facility liability, and petroleum industry regulatory matters as well as collections cases. She represents clients before both state and federal court at trial and appellate levels and has worked on the defense of several high-risk cases in which she has assisted clients in obtaining favorable rulings ...
Ramón Coto-Ojeda is the Managing Partner of Coto & Associates, who also heads the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution practice and the Cuba Team. Before forming Coto & Associates in January of 1999, he was a partner of McConnell Valdés where he worked since he joined the firm in 1982 as a law clerk. Mr. Coto-Ojeda has vast experience representing institutional lenders and other corporate interests in civil and complex commercial litigations, including products li...
Ms. Diez is an experienced trial attorney with over 15 years of practice with a successful litigation record representing employers. She provides legal counseling in all areas of employment law. She actively litigates employment lawsuits and administrative matters, both in local and federal forums, with excellent results for clients. Her practice focuses on preventive counseling and litigation in diverse topics, including wrongful termination, employment discrimination, wage and hour, retalia...
Mr. Durán-González is a seasoned litigator who has extensive experience in environmental, commercial, products liability and banking litigation. He represents local and United States companies in litigation involving contract, commercial, environmental and insurance laws, products liability and RICO. He has also represented tuna canneries and state-side companies before local courts and the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board in litigation concerning solid waste, NPDES permi...
Alberto Estrella is the managing member and majority shareholder at Estrella, LLC, one of the oldest law firms in Puerto Rico, with a history dating back to the early 1900’s. He is involved in litigation and asked to advise business clients on a diverse variety of matters, including commercial and contract disputes, complex litigation, premises liability and insurance defense, antitrust and business regulation, federal laws and litigation, trademarks and copyrights, administrative law, ...
Mr. Freese-Souffront is Vice-Chair of the Litigation Prectice Group. He is a civil and commercial litigator who handles a wide range of complex disputes. His practice focuses on maritime and admiralty law matters, high profile commercial construction disputes, distribution/franchise disputes, insurance litigation, and lender liability cases. His other practice areas include the defense of personal injury and wrongful death claims, and handling termination or non-renewal disputes under The Pet...
Mr. García-Solá is McConnell Valdés' Managing Director and leader of the Insurance Litigation Practice Team. He has developed a general civil and commercial litigation practice with emphasis in insurance litigation, franchise and distribution laws, constitutional law, contractual disputes, and trusts and estates litigation. He also has significant experience in government and legislative affairs, municipal financing, and has dealt with many bankruptcy matters. He is ranke...
Mr. González’s practice consists of counseling clients as well as federal and state litigation in several areas. Mr. González represents employers before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Antidiscrimination Unit and defending employers sued under various federal and state laws, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Employee Retirement and Income Security Act, and other employment laws and regulations....
Judge Laffitte is a retired Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, where he served for 24 years, and presided over hundreds of trials by jury. His main areas of practice are first amendment law, litigation, mediation and arbitration, labor and employment law, government enforcement and white collar defense, and government affairs.
Luis C. Marini-Biaggi is a capital member of Marini Pietrantoni Muniz LLC and Chair of the Insolvency & Restructuring Group. Luis concentrates his practice in all aspects of insolvency matters including bankruptcy, acquisition of distressed assets, public and private sector restructurings. He also regularly handles complex commercial litigation at the trial and appellate level, including defense of lender liability suits and contract litigation. He regularly represents financial instituti...
Mr. Marqués-Díaz chairs McConnell Valdés' Litigation Practice Group. His practice includes general civil and commercial litigation before the Puerto Rico and federal courts, concentrating in local appellate practice, constitutional, tax, consumer class action, administrative, insurance - including healthcare insurance litigation - and land use litigation. Mr. Marqués-Díaz has a solid constitutional law practice. He has argued many cases involving constitutio...
As Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Practice Group Ms. Montaner-Sevillano brings to the table her extensive experience in the field and she is able to provide a deep understanding of the intricacies of conducting business in Puerto Rico as well as a unique awareness of the importance of budget supervision and controls. Ms. Montaner-Sevillano concentrates her practice in employment rights laws. She provides counseling and litigation defense in cases filed under the Americans with Disabi...
Karena is a senior member at Marini Pietrantoni Muñiz LLC (“MPM”). Karena’s practice is focused on complex insurance recovery disputes on behalf of commercial and corporate policyholders. As a trial lawyer, Karena has helped clients secure millions of dollars in insurance proceeds on covered claims for hurricane losses. Karena regularly counsels clients on insurance recovery strategy and claim handling through the different stages, extrajudicially, through alternate d...
Mr. Muñiz represents clients in all phases of tax controversy and litigation matters, from tax audits and examinations through administrative appeals and court proceedings. He actively participates in multiple tax litigations representing clients on wide arrays of tax challenges, including: municipal license tax, income tax, personal property tax and construction excise tax deficiency procedures. He also has extensive experience representing taxpayers during the real property tax asses...
Ms. Palacios-Cabrera is an Income Member in the Litigation Practice Group. Her practice includes securities litigation, arbitration and mediation - including disputes related to Puerto Rico securities, closed-end funds and Puerto Rico bonds - general and complex civil and commercial litigation, contractual and distribution and franchise disputes, appellate practice, and insurance and construction litigation. https://www.mcvpr.com/attorneys-Myrgia-Palacios-Cabrera
She concentrates her practice in intellectual property and commercial litigation cases. Ms. Peñagarícano was part of the State Department Committee that drafted the new Trademarks Act of Puerto Rico and the Regulation for the Registration of Trademarks in Puerto Rico. She was the President of the Intellectual Property Committee of the PR Bar Association and, under her presidency, the Committee drafted the Right of Publicity bill, the Trade Secrets bill, and the Moral Rights bill...
Manuel handles complex, high-profile disputes. He has successfully tried multiple cases in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings and administrative forums. He also has successfully argued or briefed multiple cases before the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, and the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals. Manuel regularly lectures on the Federal Rules of Evidence, and has written multiple articles on evidence, and on the Puerto Rico Dealer and Fran...
Roberto Quiñones-Rivera, a graduate of Yale Law School, started his litigation practice with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York and Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston. He has over 30 years of experience in complex commercial litigation and arbitration and in legal counseling. Mr. Quiñones has handled major business cases in a wide range of areas, including securities, antitrust, RICO, intellectual property, distribution and ERISA. Mr. Quiñones has ...
Mariela Rexach is an experienced federal litigator with outstanding command of federal civil procedure and evidence, who practices in all areas of employment law. She has actively participated in several major cases before the U. S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She has over 50 published federal cases and an outstanding summary judgment record. She has also successfully tried numerous cases before Puerto Rico courts and re...
Carlos J. Saavedra-Gutiérrez is of counsel in the San Juan office of Jackson Lewis, PC and has over 10 years of experience in both the private and public sector. Before the age of 35, Carlos held several senior leadership positions within the Government of Puerto Rico. From 2017 to 2019, Carlos was the youngest Puerto Rico secretary of Labor and Human Resources. As secretary, Saavedra oversaw the implementation of a private sector labor reform that amended and modernized most employmen...
Juan Felipe Santos is the office managing principal and office litigation manager of the San Juan, Puerto Rico, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has successfully represented employers in litigation before federal and Puerto Rico courts, including jury trials. Before joining Jackson Lewis when it opened the Puerto Rico office in 2013, Juan worked for over 10 years in other major law firms in Puerto Rico, devoting his practice exclusively to labor and employment law. Juan represents clients thro...
In a legal career spanning almost three decades, Carl Schuster has handled over a thousand litigation matters and tried in the neighborhood of two-hundred cases before all forums. He has numerous published opinions before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, U. S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. He concentrates his practice on employment law in its broad sense, representing and advising clients on matters related to: Sexual harass...
Pedro Jaime Torres-Díaz is the office managing principal of the Miami, Florida, office and a principal in the San Juan, Puerto Rico, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He is also a past president of the Hispanic National Bar Association. His practice concentrates on employment discrimination and wage and hour counseling and litigation exclusively on behalf of employers, both in Florida and Puerto Rico. Pedro has extensive trial experience before both federal and local courts and administrati...
Karina Rodríguez is an associate in the San Juan, Puerto Rico, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Her practice focuses on representing employers in workplace law matters, including preventive advice and counseling. She has successfully represented clients securing favorable outcomes at trials and appeals, as well as administrative agencies, such as the EEOC and the Department of Labor. She also provides preventive counseling to employers on topics such as internal corporate investigations on...
Mr. Zayas-Marxuach has developed a commercial and general civil litigation practice in federal and state courts, with emphasis on distribution and franchising, insurance litigation, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, class actions and product liability, particularly prescription drug litigation. Additionally, Mr. Zayas-Marxuach regularly provides litigation and counseling services to individuals in estate and probate matters.
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.