Colombia

As one of the most active transactional firms in the world, we help our clients structure and execute a wide range of M&A transactions, advising on all financial aspects of these with our Banking & Finance team, from project inception to closing of the transaction.

In addition, we are leaders in the energy sector, advising on the most relevant transactions in the market with our Energy & Infrastructure team. We collaborate with many of our global Firm's 750 Dispute Resolution lawyers to help clients resolve complex issues.

In addition, with our Antitrust & Competition team we help manage the process of monitoring and evaluating future mergers, highlighting risks and opportunities, and we have the ability to provide advice on regulatory and compliance issues arising in connection with telecommunications, digital economy, antitrust, data and consumer protection laws.
In our Employment & Compensation team, we have the advantage of being able to work with lawyers from other areas of the firm in order to ensure comprehensive advice: we manage employment issues with our groups aligned with tax and corporate law practices, contracts, data protection and compliance and litigation, among others.

For several years, our Intellectual Property team has specialized and positioned itself globally in trademark, patent, copyright, regulatory and criminal law.

Our Tax team works with colleagues from other regions to find tax-efficient structures for large cross-border transactions and investments, as well as to advise clients on the Colombian tax aspects of international projects.

In addition to those mentioned above, we also offer global and local advice in the following areas:

• Private Equity
• Capital Markets
• Projects
• Restructuring & Insolvency
• Employment & Compensation
• Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
• Investigations, Compliance & Ethics
• Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Through our social responsibility program, we encourage our team to promote sustainable and inclusive initiatives, and to strengthen the bonds with our clients who share the same commitment to social justice.

Pro bono and community service: Our pro bono mission is delivering first-level legal services to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable and promoting activities that provide opportunities for all the Firm's personnel, both individually and in collaboration with our clients. Our goal is to contribute to the wellbeing of the communities in which we work and live.

Inclusion and Diversity: We strongly believe that inclusive and diverse policies have a positive impact on the workplace and business.
This culture nurtures creativity and fosters diverse views and opinions, contributing to the delivery of high-quality services focused on our clients' needs.

Sustainability: Baker McKenzie's approach to sustainability goes beyond environmental management – it reflects our commitment to ourselves as we adjust our policies and actions to match the UN Global Compact's Principles. These principles are mainly related to Human Rights, fair working conditions, environment and anti-corruption.

Social: Baker McKenzie Colombia está comprometido con impactar positivamente a las comunidades, para esto nos enfocamos en dos pilares:

• Children: We seek to improve the quality of life of underprivileged children and adolescents.
• CRAN Foundation: This foundation takes in children whose rights have been violated and seeks to protect them until their rights are restored. From Baker we seek to improve the quality of life of children through donations for the purchase of school supplies, improvements to the foundation's facilities and the purchase of clothing.
• Save the children: It is an NGO whose purpose is to work for the rights of children and adolescents, through programs focused on health and nutrition, child protection, education, child poverty relief and humanitarian outreach. Annually we contribute to the eradication of hunger among children and adolescents.

Education: We contribute to social mobility by sponsoring scholarships for people from vulnerable populations.

• Judicial Training Program: Together with the Universidad de Los Andes we seek to contribute to the strengthening of judicial activity as a pillar of the Colombian Social State, through this program we provided scholarships to judges in the country in order to allow them to update their knowledge and promote good judicial work. This program had a focus on gender, territory and disability, seeking above all to support those who exercise their function in areas with a history of armed violence.
• Scholarship with Universidad Javeriana: We created an alliance with the Universidad Javeriana to provide a 100% scholarship to a person who wanted to study law, this scholarship was given to a woman who was a victim of the armed conflict during her life and who did not have the means to access a professional education program. Through this scholarship we want to contribute to reduce poverty gaps in the country and thus contribute to social mobility.

LIFT program: Leaders Investing For Tomorrow: In the last few years Carolina Duque, local partner of Banking and Finance, and Cristina Mejía, local partner of Conflict Resolution, have participated in this global initiative, focused on accompanying the firm's Key Talent women in their professional development, generating career opportunities and enhancing their leadership skills.

Natalia Ponce de León Foundation: Our firm is part of the board of directors of the Foundation, in addition to offering full legal support on a Pro Bono basis. We also support the entity in the development of various activities and projects for the development of its social function in the country.

Women in Connection: We supported and participated in the creation of Women in Connection, which promotes gender equality and shares best practices in women's leadership. Tatiana Garcés is a founding partner and together with Clare Montgomery participates in several WIC committees, such as the legal and corporate policy committees. Baker McKenzie advises the foundation on Intellectual Property, Labor and Corporate Law.

Ranking PAR: We recently participated in the PAR Ranking survey, led by Aequales, which has allowed us to measure our performance and create future strategies aimed at strengthening our gender equity goals.

Abogadas In House – Colombia Powered by Baker McKenzie: This network was born to give leadership to women lawyers within companies as they often lack prominent roles and visibility in comparison with other departments or executives. This network represents the first General Counsel’s Women initiative in Colombia. Its mission is to create influential relationships that enhance professional growth opportunities within the legal industry.

Chambers and Partners

Band 1

• Dispute Resolution

Band 2

• M&A
• Competition and Antitrust
• Intellectual Property
• Employment and compensation
• Tax

Band 3

• Banking and Finance
• Capital Markets
• Energy and natural resources

Legal 500

Tier 1

• Dispute Resolution
• Competition and Antitrust
• M&A
• Employment and Compensation
• Tax

Tier 2

• Capital Markets
• Energy and Natural resources
• Intellectual Property
• Life sciences

Tier 3

• Banking and Finance
• Environment
• Projects
• Real Estate
• TMT
• Compliance and white collar crime