News

The Firm represented Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), a German Development Finance Institution, in a $50 million financing of Banco de Sabadell, S.A. (Sabadell), a Mexican bank. Sabadell will use the DEG loan to fund companies developing environmental sustainability projects in Mexico, including projects to improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse emissions, and sustainably manage water and waste.

Becker Glynn represented Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco) of France, one of our European Development Finance Institution clients, in a $140 million financing of Banco BTG Pactual S.A. (BTG) in Brazil.

Jordan Stern, a partner at the firm, spoke about litigation and M&A transactions at a committee conference of the American Bar Association.

After years of legal writing and thinking about legal writing, litigation partner Zeb Landsman has published a short handbook on brief writing called No One Wants To Read Your Brief.

The Firm has named two veteran partners to lead its largest practice groups.

On Bankruptcy Injunctions, Third-Party Releases, and Bar Orders, Can We Please Stop Talking About Jurisdiction? is Alec Ostrow’s latest publication in the Norton Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law. The article discusses two 2019 appellate rulings about federal court jurisdiction to enjoin actions between non-debtors in support of settlements and confirmed chapter 11 plans in receivership and bankruptcy cases.

Australian “buy now, pay later” provider Openpay Group Ltd (ASX: OPY) expanded its global reach by launching operations in the U.S. The firm represented key hires for Openpay’s executive team: Brian Shniderman, joining Openpay as its CEO and Global Chief Strategy Officer, and Gary Stein, as Chief Product and Compliance Officer.

The firm represented Eduardo Hochschild in the sale of a 12% stake in Hochschild Mining plc, a leading precious metals producer listed on the London Stock Exchange.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has precluded our lawyers from traveling to Europe and Latin America to advise our clients there, we have redoubled our efforts to educate business and legal professionals around the world using virtual platforms. In the latest example, corporate partner Eric Kuhn participated in a Spanish-language virtual forum on the COVID repercussions on Spanish companies active internationally.

Continuing the Firm’s long standing work advising Latin American investors and high net worth families, a virtual conference sponsored by the Brazilian branch of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners will feature the Firm’s David Tobon, a partner in the International and Tax practice groups.

As a consequence of the global economic slowdown from COVID-19, purchasers of goods from Italian and other non-U.S. suppliers are increasingly failing to meet their payment obligations. Against this background, Eric Kuhn, who regularly advises Italian and other European companies on their U.S. activities, participated in an Italian-language virtual roundtable on debt recovery, organized by the Treviso-Belluno Chamber of Commerce.

The Brazilian Chamber of Commerce will host a panel discussion on October 5, 2020, entitled The Impact of Immigration: Economic and Tax implications for Brazil and the United States. David Tobon, a partner in the Firm’s trusts and estates, private client, and tax practice groups, will explore with other panelists the macroeconomic implications of the current immigration policy stances and legal challenges facing both U.S. and Brazilian citizens.

The firm represents a physician-scientist, who filed for a patent on his team’s cure for HPV, the leading cause of cervical cancer worldwide, and his company, which was to receive an exclusive license to distribute the cure. They allege that the City University of New York, to whom patent prosecution rights were assigned, abandoned the patent in violation of the parties’ contract based on false statements made by its employee, ending our clients’ ability to bring the cure to market.

Chapter 11 reorganizations have rightly been criticized as too expensive for small and medium size businesses. On top of the cost, owners were often unable to retain their equity stakes because typically creditors either had to accept less than full payment or the equity holders had to kick in substantial sums of their own money. This past year, however, two pieces of federal legislation combined to ease the burden on small businesses, and temporarily, some not-so-small businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed thinly financed businesses into bankruptcy, often with very little warning to creditors. There is expected to be a corresponding increase in lawsuits filed by trustees (or debtors in possession) to “claw back” prebankruptcy payments made to creditors. On August 10, 2020, bankruptcy partner Alec Ostrow will join other notable bankruptcy practitioners to discuss the situation during a webinar presented by the New York State Bar Association, with an emphasis on possible defenses to preferential transfer actions, the role mediation and expert testimony can play, and recent relevant changes to the Bankruptcy Code.

The Firm won a breach of contract case for the Delaware holding company of a Brazilian telecommunications company when the New York court found the defendant liable for failing to make a multimillion-dollar investment. The case was slated for a damages trial.

Addressing the complex business challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis requires companies to navigate the evolving regulations and guidance promulgated across the federal, state, and local levels. On July 8, 2020, Susanne von Türk, a member of the Board of Directors of the German-American Chamber of Commerce, participated in a virtual program that addressed those issues, including potential legal liability and how to manage risks.

The slowdown in physical expansion by European companies into the United States owing to COVID-19 has increased interest in agency arrangements as a way to enter the U.S. market or expand an existing presence. On July 8, 2020, Eric Kuhn, who regularly advises Italian and other European companies on their U.S. activities, participated in an Italian-language virtual roundtable on international agency agreements organized by the Treviso-Belluno Chamber of Commerce.

In their second virtual trial scheduled for this summer, Becker Glynn’s trial lawyers will appear in New York Supreme Court to press the claims of a Brazilian telecommunications company against an investor who failed to make a $7 million payment for shares of the company.

Becker Glynn’s litigators are scheduled to start a three week virtual trial in federal district court in Boston in July.  In one of the earliest federal trials of its kind, counsel will appear remotely using the Zoom platform hosted by the district court.  Witnesses will be questioned and exhibits introduced though the remote platform.