The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management - 4th Edition

Editors: Sergio J Galvis, Robert J Giuffra, Jr and Werner F Ahlers

Pages: 346

ISBN: 978-1-83862-751-5

Published by Latin Lawyer and LACCA, edited by Sergio J Galvis, Robert J Giuffra Jr and Werner F Ahlers, partners at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management is designed to assist key business decision makers and their advisers in effectively planning for and managing a corporate crisis in Latin America.

This guide delivers specialist insight to our readers – general counsel, compliance officers, government agencies and private practitioners – who must navigate the region’s complex, fast-changing framework of rules and regulations.

In preparing this guide, we have been working with practitioners from a variety of disciplines and geographies, who have contributed a wealth of knowledge and experience. We are grateful for their cooperation and insight.

Series

Introduction

Introduction: Effective Crisis Management in Latin America
Sergio J Galvis, Robert J Giuffra Jr and Werner F Ahlers
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Part I: Lessions from the Covid-19 Crisis

Managing the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil: Issues and Recommendations for Directors and Officers
Cleber Venditti, Paula Indalecio and Thiago Jabor
Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados
Covid-19 and the Impact on Corporate Governance and Compliance in Colombia
Jaime Herrera Rodriguez and Oscar Tutasaura Castellanos
Posse Herrera Ruiz

Part II: Navigating Political and Country Risks

Dealing with the Challenges of Political Violence and Crime in Latin America
Jack Devine and Amanda Mattingly
Arkin Group LLC
Argentina: A Legal Toolbox for an Unprecedented Crisis
Mariela I Melhem, Esteban Valansi and Siro P Astolfi
Mitrani Caballero & Ruiz Moreno Abogados
Navigating a Corporate Crisis: Managing the Risks of Downsizing in Venezuela
Fulvio Italiani and Carlos Omaña
D'Empaire
M&A in a Crisis-Prone Environment: Red Flags and Warning Signs in Peru
José Antonio Payet and Carlos A Patrón
Payet, Rey, Cauvi, Pérez Abogados

Part III: Stakeholder Relations

Singing from the Same Song Sheet: How Collaboration Between Legal and Communications Can Mitigate a Crisis
Paul A Holmes and Eric M Wachter
Finsbury
Crisis Mode: Have Your ESG Team on Speed Dial
Pablo Jiménez-Zorrilla and Luis Burgueño
Von Wobeser y Sierra, SC
Crisis Management as a Tool for Approaching Shareholder Activism

Sergio J Galvis and Werner F Ahlers
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity: Crisis Avoidance and Management Strategies
Jeremy Feigelson, Andrew M Levine, Johanna Skrzypczyk,
H Jacqueline Brehmer, Mengyi Xu, Hilary Davidson and Michael Bloom
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste: The Role of Culture, Perception and Common Sense in Crisis Management
Pablo Jiménez-Zorrilla
Von Wobeser y Sierra, SC
Gregorio Lascano
Globant
Mining Projects in Peru: Community Relations, Indigenous Rights and the Search for Sustainability
Luis Carlos Rodrigo Prado
Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano Abogados

Part IV: Anti-Corruption and Government Investigations

New US Enforcement Priorities and Their Impact on Latin
American Companies
Francesca Odell, Jonathan Kolodner and Lisa Vicens
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Practical Considerations for Achieving Global Resolutions
in Cross-Border Investigations
Kathleen S McArthur, Aisling O’Shea and Olivia G Chalos
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
When Good Companies Fight Against the Bad: A Practical Crisis Management Guide for Doing Business in Mexico
Leonel Pereznieto
Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez
Anti-Corruption in Latin America
James M Koukios, Ruti Smithline, Gerardo Gomez Galvis
and Maria Acosta
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Representing Individual Executives in Latin America
Mauricio A España and Andrew J Levander
Dechert LLP

Part V: Restructuring and Insolvency

Weathering a Crisis in Brazil: Fiduciary Duties of Directors and Officers of Brazilian Companies Approaching Insolvency
Giuliano Colombo and João Guilherme Thiesi da Silva
Pinheiro Neto Advogados

Financial Distress: An Action Plan for Corporate Restructurings in Mexico
Eugenio Sepúlveda
Galicia Abogados

United States Bankruptcy Proceedings for Latin American Corporates
Andrew G Dietderich, James L Bromley and Fabio Weinberg Crocco
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Sergio J Galvis

Sergio Galvis is a leading corporate lawyer in the United States who is known for his cross-border work, especially in Latin America. He joined Sullivan & Cromwell after graduating from Harvard Law School and clerking for the Hon. Lawrence W. Pierce, Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and has been a partner of the Firm since 1991. He is a member of S&Cʼs Management Committee, oversees the Firm’s recruiting and administrative functions and leads its Latin America practice.

Sergio has worked with clients across more than 25 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas on hundreds of significant matters in a broad range of practices, including crisis management, criminal defense and investigations, workouts and restructurings, corporate governance, sovereign financing, capital markets, M&A and project financing. He also regularly works on OFAC compliance and sanctions issues, especially as they relate to in Latin America situations.

Robert J Giuffra, Jr

Robert J Giuffra, Jr is recognised as one of the leading litigators in the US. He is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP’s management committee, responsible for the litigation practice.

A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Mr Giuffra has represented Fortune 500 companies in some of the highest-stakes litigations and investigations of the past two decades, including those arising from the financial crisis, Enron bankruptcy and HealthSouth accounting fraud. He is currently US national coordinating counsel for Volkswagen in diesel emissions litigations and investigations and helped secure landmark US regulatory and consumer settlements. He also represents Fiat Chrysler in US litigation and investigations over diesel emissions. He has represented leading Latin American companies, including Tenaris in securing the first SEC deferred prosecution agreement and Grupo Mexico in Delaware derivative litigation. He has won precedent-setting US court decisions, including limiting the extraterritorial application of US securities laws.

A graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School, Mr Giuffra clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the US Supreme Court and for Judge Ralph Winter of the Second Circuit. As Chief Counsel of the US Senate Banking Committee, he was a principal drafter of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

Werner Federico

Werner Federico Ahlers is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s General Practice Group whose practice focuses on a wide range of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity transactions and corporate matters. Werner advises on a variety of corporate, project and restructuring financing matters, and in the areas of corporate governance and crisis management. He is a core member of the Firm’s Latin America practice, and regularly acts on equity and debt investments for strategic investors based in and outside the region, private equity, pension and sovereign wealth funds, and bank and multi-lateral agency lenders. His practice spans diverse sectors, including mining and metals, power and energy, real estate, infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare and financial services.

Werner has been repeatedly recognized for his cross-border advisory work by leading legal publications, such as Chambers (Global and Latin America), Latin Lawyer, Law360, The M&A Advisor, The American Lawyer and The Legal 500 (Latin America and US). Werner serves on the Executive Sub-Committee and as chair of the Latin America Sub-Committee of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice and as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a native speaker of Spanish and is proficient in Portuguese.