Florencia Heredia > Allende & Brea > BUENOS AIRES, Argentina > Lawyer Profile

Allende & Brea
Maipú 1300, Piso 11, C1006ACT
Argentina

Work Department

Energy and Natural Resources: Mining

Position

Partner. Florencia Heredia is an expert in mining law with 27 years extensive experience advising companies and financing institutions in complex mining transactions in Argentina.

Career

Florencia Heredia is an expert in mining law with 27 years extensive experience advising companies and financing institutions in complex mining transactions in Argentina. She has been involved in almost all transactions and projects that have taken place in the country, having repeatedly represented lenders in the Bajo de la Alumbrera, Cerro Vanguardia and Veladero projects all major mining project finance that took place in Argentina.

She is currently very active in the lithium sector which involves many challenges for the mining sector, at the innovation and technical as well as social levels.

In 1997 she worked for Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener (today Beiten Burkhardt), one of the leading international German law firms based in Münich.

She has been Visiting Professor at Denver University, Colorado, USA were she taught “Comparative Latin-American Mining Law” at the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Graduate Course directed by Professor Don Smith. She is currently professor at the Austral University at the Pre Master course where she teaches Mining Law and at the Master of Mining Business Management lectured at the Universidad Católica de Cuyo, in the province of San Juan.

For the past 20 years, she has been repeatedly cited as a leading practitioner in Natural Resources law by, among others, Chambers & Partners, Who’s Who Legal and Legal 500 including being named “Mining Lawyer of the Year” in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 by Who’s Who Legal.

Languages

She is fluent in Spanish, English, German and Italian.

Memberships

She is an active member of the International Bar Association, where she held the position of Chair of the Mining Law Committee (2014-2015), she is currently council member of SEERIL. She has been twice Trustee at Large of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, for which she also served as Secretary to the Board (2014-2015). She is member of the Academic Board of RADHEM in Argentina, publication specialized in Energy and Natural Resources.

She has recently joined the Women Corporate Directors foundation, since as of January 2018 she holds the position of Non Executive Independent director of Galaxy Lithium, Australian public company leader in the lithium sector.

Education

She received her law degree with honors (summa cum laude) from Universidad Católica Argentina in 1991. She also received with honors (summa cum laude) a Master degree on Business Law from Universidad Austral in 1995. She has a degree with honors (summa cum laude) on corporate sustainability from IESC (Instituto de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad Corporativa).

Lawyer Rankings

Argentina > Environment

Allende & Brea draws on expertise from its public law, compliance and mining practices to provide an integrated approach to environmental law that is focused on embedding sustainability into client operations and managing long-term environmental risk and impact. The team advises on compliance with Argentine environmental legislation, including obtaining permits, environmental legal audits, implementation of management systems, risk management and environmental liabilities. Transactional work is taken on too, with due diligence for M&A and project finance deals being particularly busy areas. The team also represents clients in individual and collective environmental litigation and environmental administrative proceedings and is particularly well known for its corporate governance and anti-corruption work. The practice is jointly led by Florencia Heredia, a renowned natural resources and mining lawyer, and María Morena Del Río, who specialises in environmental and administrative law. Senior associate Martín Alejo Prieto handles individual and collective environmental disputes and litigation and also advises on environmental law compliance.

Argentina > Energy and natural resources > Electricity

Allende & Brea leverages its wider natural resources expertise and contact base to support clients on a range of transactional, regulatory, environmental, tax, financial and litigation matters. The practice is best known for its expertise in the design and construction of natural gas, combined cycle and renewable energy power plants; where it advises on EPC contracts and project financing. The practice is led by Florencia Heredia, an exceptional mining practitioner who also covers environmental law and other energy-related work.  Financing and transactional partner Marcos Patrón Costas is another key name.

Argentina > Energy and natural resources > Mining

(Hall of Fame)

Florencia HerediaAllende & Brea

Allende & Brea‘s multidisciplinary team has extensive mining industry expertise and provides local and international mining companies with comprehensive regulatory, environmental, tax, financial and contractual support. Complex cross-border mining M&A, joint ventures and financings are particular areas of strength for a firm that as been at the forefront of the Argentina’s boom in metalliferous projects, with lithium and copper especially busy areas. The practice is led by the formidable Florencia Heredia (‘an incredible attorney and contributor to the global legal community‘), a true mining specialist with more than three decades’ industry experience and an impressive international mining company contact book. She is ably assisted by a team of accomplished associates, including mining and foreign investment senior Agostina Martinez; ESG and administrative law-focused Martín Prieto; and Maria Milagros Pieroni, a young lawyer who has in-house experience in the lithium industry and a solid grounding in environmental law.

Argentina > Energy and natural resources > Oil and gas

Best-known for its excellent mining practice, Allende & Brea is also established in other natural resources industries, with oil-and-gas a key focus area. The team advises clients in the sector on tax, environmental law, contracts, M&A and financing matters. Mining rainmaker Florencia Heredia leads the team, with other key practice members including cross-border transactional and financing partner Marcos Patrón Costas; and senior associate Agostina Martinez, who covers international oil-and-gas law and contractual matters.