Spanish firm ECIJA has strengthened its Brazil and Costa Rica offices with the addition of six partners covering areas such as TMT, corporate, competition and aviation law.

The six new arrivals are Anna Luiza Pires e Albuquerque de Berredo, Cristiane Sanches, Rosana Pilon Muknicka, Fábio Figueira and Ivan Dilly in Brazil and Alvaro Quesada in Costa Rica.

Brazilian partners Marcos Catão and Bruno Tocantins said the group’s arrival underscores the firm’s strategy to be the leading Spanish firm in Latin America, following its move into Brazil back in June.

Quesada joins from Costa Rican firm Aguilar Castillo Love, where he spent almost three years as a partner specialising in competition law and M&A. Prior to that, he worked in-house at Costa Rican drinks company Florida Bebidas for almost two years, sandwiched between a decade-long stint as an associate at Aguilar. 

Mauricio París, managing partner of ECIJA Costa Rica, said of Quesada: “This is exactly the professional profile we are interested in incorporating to the firm, not only because of the sophistication of his practice and his impeccable academic background, but also because he shares the values that characterise our team: innovation, diversity, agility, enthusiasm and excellence.”

De Berredo returns to the legal profession after more than a decade volunteering in the Middle East and Asia on local community projects, having previously worked as a senior legal manager at BP in Brazil. She now specialises in TMT-related law.

Sanches brings with her in-house experience in the technology sector, and her practice will focus on TMT and privacy and data protection. Muknicka joins from Schmidt Valois Miranda Ferreira Agel, where she advised clients on technology, innovation and data protection matters, as well as employment law. She also joins ECIJA’s TMT team.

Corporate and M&A partner Figueira joins from Brazilian firm Veirano, where he worked for 28 years. Dilly, meantime, joins the firm’s aerospace practice after two decades at Rolls Royce, most recently as head of legal for Brazil.

The latest recruits follow the arrivals in September of IP disputes specialist Karla Alas de Duarte in El Salvador and special counsel Arturo Guerrero in Costa Rica.

The firm's Latin America network extends to Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Panama, Mexico and Ecuador.