Carlos Umaña > Brigard Urrutia > Bogota, Colombia > Lawyer Profile

Brigard Urrutia’s ability to draw on its premier full-service offering is a key feature of its multidisciplinary projects team, which routinely works alongside other practice groups to provide comprehensive advice. Project finance is a notable sweet spot, in line with the wider firm’s top-tier finance capability, and it shines in representing lenders and sponsors on major energy and infrastructure projects. However, it also handles public procurement, project development, and contentious work. Senior contacts include Carlos Umaña, who maintains a broad practice with a focus on infrastructure, public procurement, utilities, and natural resources; managing partner Carlos Fradique-Méndez, who is sought after for infrastructure financings; and Claudia Navarro, who has extensive expertise in regulatory and commercial matters. The department additionally calls upon the experience of banking and finance specialists César Felipe Rodríguez, María Fernanda Diago and Felipe Alarcón, as well as associate practice director Julián Parra. In July 2022, senior associate Juan Pablo Canaval left to join Uraba Highways.

Brigard Urrutia has ranked ‘among the leaders in public law for many years’, according to sources. The team, which acts for the full spread of government agencies, state-owned enterprises and private companies, is often brought in at the structuring stage to help develop major projects, such as its recent appointment by Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) to be part of the team responsible for structuring Bogotá’s second metro line project. High-profile figure Carlos Umaña ‘provides confidence and security to his clients’; he led on the FDN work. The group also draws on infrastructure and public utilities partner Claudia Navarro; public law practice director Julián Parra, who ‘constantly looks for solutions and alternatives to overcome obstacles’; and director Mario Forero, who is noted for public procurement and administrative law matters.

A destination practice for energy and natural resources law, Brigard Urrutia’s key attributes include its ‘strong ability to work under pressure’ as well as its ‘rapid co-ordination with other teams within the firm’. The full-service group is equipped to handle the gamut of industry matters, from regulatory and environmental issues, through to project structuring and transactional work. It also stands out for its involvement in both the conventional and renewable energy segments. Claudia Navarro is widely recognised for her renewable energy expertise; she advised Promigas on self-sufficient power generation solutions to be provided to its clients. Very experienced associate director of the oil-and-gas and mining practices, Marianna Boza recently acted alongside senior partner Carlos Urrutia and the M&A department to advise Cordoba Minerals on a strategic agreement with JCHX Mining Management to jointly develop its Alacran copper-gold-silver project. Transactional specialist Jaime Robledo and seasoned energy and infrastructure expert Carlos Umaña are also noted at senior level. The group additionally includes talented senior associate Juan Carlos Padilla, and fellow senior Andrés Felipe Parra who rejoined the team from Ecopetrol in May 2022.