Latin Lawyer
Friday, 18th June 2010 by David Thorley
As Latin America's football teams outstrip expectations with their performances in the World Cup so far, lawyers across the region say they are adapting their working practices to fit the matches into their day.
Yesterday, Mexico overturned the formbook to beat France 2-0, while Wednesday saw a 3-0 victory for Uruguay over host nation South Africa.
Of course, the demand for legal services does not stop during World Cup games, but it can affect the pace at which business is transacted. Francisco Ibañez Grimm, who heads the sports law practice at Mexican firm Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes SC says, 'Not only do things stop in law firms when Mexico plays, they stop all across the country. I recently closed a transaction and we had to speed things up in order to close on Thursday as opposed to Friday when Mexico played its first match.'
At Uruguayan firm Sanguinetti, Fodere & Bragard Abogados, founding partner Eduardo Sanguinetti says, 'Uruguay involvement in the World Cup is a matter of great emotion for everybody in our firm. Therefore, every time Uruguay plays we gather at the room where we do training courses and internal meetings so we can watch the match all together. We bought a new flat television for everybody to see and we usually buy something to eat and drink.'
'We find it exciting to share these moments with the members of the firm due to the fact that it is an opportunity to get together and to unite to support our country in a competition as exciting as the World Cup. Furthermore, different comments and reactions make it an intense experience and a lot of fun. If you look at the 'disruption' with perspective you realise that it is less than that two hours per week, for three to seven games every four or eight years.'
The experience at Sanguinetti Fodere seems to be typical of a good number of law firms and businesses around the region. Argentine electricity company Edesur reported that the country's first match caused an 800 MW drop in power use, while trading on Brazilian stock exchange Bovespa fell to a low for the year during that country's opening game of the tournament.
Many lawyers around the region are adapting their working hours to fit the football into their day. In Honduras – which is appearing in the competition for the first time since 1982 – José Ramón Paz of Consortium Centro America Abogados - Honduras says, 'Soccer is not only the national sport in Honduras above any other, but also a passion. Many businesses delay employees' arrival at work for one hour every time our national team plays.'
And the same applies in Brazil where Ricardo Barretto of Barretto Ferreira, Kujawski, Brancher e Gonçalves says that country's vast experience in World Cup football means that, although 'things stop when Brazil is playing, we became accustomed to adapt the routine of the firm to those circumstances after many years of working through them.'
As well as disrupting working hours across the region, the World Cup has also been a source of opportunity for some firms. In Brazil, says Barretto, the opportunities stem mainly from the country's hosting of the 2014 competition.
An Argentina, Luis Incera, who leads the sports law practice at Pérez Alati, Grondona, Benites, Arntsen & Martínez de Hoz (h), says, 'At the beginning of the year we saw an important increase in businesses related to the World Cup, ranging from sponsorship to advertisement agreements, and banking agreements with retail chains selling flat TV sets, financial facilities for other home appliances, etc.'
'It is known that the largest part of the local companies' advertising budgets is concentrated on the period of World Cup,' he adds. |