FERRERE ATTORNEYS AT LAW has been the fastest growing law firm in Uruguay for many years, and is currently significantly larger than any other firm in the country. We take this as a tribute to the firm's responsiveness to its clients' needs.

Ferrere is a full-service firm. Our services are not concentrated in any specific area of business. However, our highly specialised practices have made us market leaders in many areas such as securitisations, telecommunications, energy, pharmaceuticals, insurance, M&A, and virtually all business areas that have grown internationally in recent years.

Ferrere is clearly a leader in arbitration and litigation, both domestic and multi-jurisdictional. Our practice is the largest in Uruguay and our professionals have been trained, locally and abroad, in these areas and are experienced in handling all types of cases, including highly complex ones. As a result, our practice has continued to earn an unparalleled reputation for its specialised, effective and comprehensive approach to litigation and arbitration.

Our arbitration practice has handled virtually all of the most relevant arbitration in recent years, including the leading cases in which courts have increasingly adopted international standards in favour of arbitration. Specifically in the context of international arbitration, we have worked side by side with firms from major jurisdictions in the most high-profile arbitration cases related to Uruguay.

Our litigation team is currently in charge of the largest litigation ever to take place in Uruguay, resulting from the 2002 banking crisis. Our ability to conduct a number of highly complex cases simultaneously is unique in Uruguay and has been praised repeatedly by our clients. We are accustomed to coordinating with our colleagues in multi-jurisdiction cases, and we apply standards and criteria fully compatible with those in place in major jurisdictions.

In order to provide litigation capability throughout Uruguay, we have offices or affiliated firms in all its major cities. In 2003 we opened new offices in Asunción, Paraguay; and in Santa Cruz and La Paz, Bolivia, to provide integrated services in the three small countries of the Southern Cone of South America to large multinational and colleague firms. Since then, a significant number of our multinational clients have decided to benefit from our one-contact approach to legal services throughout the region.

The culture of the firm was very much influenced by a handful of leading multinationals who guided our growth during the initial years and led us to adopt international standards, business criteria and effective patterns of service.

Ferrere has long-standing, solid relationships with leading international law firms, but is not a member of any alliance. In any case, we are a highly competitive firm. We aim at excelling in every single deal, growing consistently faster than any of our competitors, and representing the best clients in the most interesting transactions and cases. This is not the easiest of goals but all our members are fully committed to it.