Guyer & Regules Law Firm

Guyer & Regules participates in the main cases in Uruguay involving bankruptcy, insolvency, in-court and out-of-court settlements for payment with creditors, private, judicial and administrative liquidations, restructuring and private reorganization agreements, whether national or transnational.

Guyer & Regules acts primarily in representation of creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, support for creditor boards and creditor commissions, credit verification, revocation of agreements executed by the bankrupt debtor, asset tracking, payment proposal drafting, debt restructuring and negotiation.

Guyer & Regules has broad experience consulting on consumer defense across all industries and sectors. Clients are represented in private as well as administrative and judicial contexts. Defense and preventative work is also undertaken associated with the commercialization of all types of products and services.

This high level of specialization, in addition to vast experience, extends to diverse areas of products and services, from home appliances, automobiles, mobile phones, food products, cosmetics, medicines, and financial services, among others.

We specialize in the following activities:

• Providing comprehensive legal advice adapted to the unique characteristics and needs of each company.
• Adaptation of sales plans according to consumer defense regulations; design and implementation of control and compliance programs in accordance with the topic, such as procedures for attending to claims.
• Consultation on traditional as well as online products and services (review of terms and conditions on websites), legal analysis of advertisements and compliance with the provider's obligation to provide information.
• Editing of consumer contracts.
• E-commerce.
• Advertising campaigns, responsibility for products, replacements and defective products.
• Raffles/Prize drawings, contests and commercial promotions.
• Review and adaptation of guarantees.
• Product labeling, commercialization conditions.
• Product recalls.
• Providers' responsibilities.
• Consumer defense before any body responsible for Consumer Protection and representation on all types of administrative procedures that fall under Consumer Protection Law.
• Judicial and extrajudicial representation in cases related to consumer defense.

Guyer & Regules has a Family Law department that comprises recognized professionals in the field. Their vast experience consulting on judicial and extrajudicial affairs, to domestic as well as international clients, covers a wide range of topics related to Family Law, both in personal and property-related matters. The complex, sensitive nature of the subject is recognized and respected at all times.

We specialize in the following activities:

• Divorce in all its forms and issues deriving therefrom.
• Probate proceedings and its diverse possible stages; remarks posed to asset inventories; interrogative actions; will amendment or revocation action; actions to reduce inofficious/futile donations; judicial or extrajudicial distribution of goods.
• All issues related to minors, such as custody, visitation, child support, travel authorization, judicial permissions.
• Dissolution and liquidation of the marital partnership with its diverse occurrences, as well as judicial and extrajudicial division of goods.
• All issues related to incapacity, such as judicial declaration of incapacity, judicial permissions, designation of a special caretaker, and accountability.
• Recognition of civil unions/cohabitation in their diverse manifestations, both personal and property-related; dissolution and liquidation.
• Consultation on wills.

Guyer & Regules is recognized as a leader in the field of Real Estate due to its prestigious team of professionals and its extensive experience in the Uruguayan market. We have undertaken a number of deals that have proven to be extremely important in the development of commercial and housing real estate in Uruguay.

The Real Estate team has an office in Punta del Este for the convenience of clients with investments in the East coast of the country (Punta del Este, José Ignacio, Rocha).

We specialize in the following areas:

• Structuring of real estate investments.
• Real estate investment financing.
• Tourism development (mainly in Montevideo, Colonia and Punta del Este).
• Real estate trusts (administration, guarantee and at cost).
• Industrial plants.
• Large facilities (supermarkets, shopping centers).
• Control of mortgages, pledges and leasings in the financial system
• Hospitality sector. / Hotel industry
• Residential estates and country clubs.

Guyer & Regules is a leader in the market in aspects related to corporate law and its professionals have been consistently featured by important publications specialized in the area.

The firm provides both local and international clients with a comprehensive corporate legal service that enables to complete sophisticated transactions in a competitive and constantly changing business environment. The lawyers of the Firm have an unparalleled experience advising clients in international operations, and are familiar with the political, economic and cultural complexities resulting from the negotiation and structuring of transnational operations.

Guyer & Regules regularly and continually renders advise on corporate governance matters for listed companies (and other companies that operate in regulated sectors), national and international businesses, financial entities and other agents that conduct business on the stock exchange.

This practice area specializes in a wide range of matters, including:

• Company incorporation.
• Corporate transformation.
• Bylaws amendment.
• Board of Directors and Management Board Secretariats.
• Shareholder meetings.
• Corporate restructuring.
• Duties and responsibilities of directors and administrators.
• Agreements between partners and Shareholders Agreements.Increases and reductions in capital.
• Appraisal right of dissenting shareholders.
• Corporate interventions and authorities' displacement.
• Debt issuance in Uruguay and abroad.
• Corporate redomiciliation.

Guyer & Regules has a long-standing tradition of representing the main Uruguayan and foreign insurers, reinsurers, financial institutions, intermediaries and insured companies. We have experience in regulatory, corporate, contractual, transactional and dispute resolution matters.

The firm has advised insurance and reinsurance companies and brokers in the set-up of their businesses in the Uruguayan market, subsequently continuing to consult on their legal needs in Uruguay, including their relationship with the Uruguayan insurance regulator.

Due to the regulatory experience of this outstanding team, the firm represents Uruguayan and foreign clients in relation to a wide range of regulatory matters, including inquiries and negotiations with the regulatory body.

We specialize in the following areas:

• Consultancy in the setup of insurance companies.
• Regulatory consultation for insurers, reinsurers and reinsurance producers in administrative processes pertaining to the Central Bank of Uruguay as a regulatory body.
• Insurance and reinsurance contracts.
• Partnerships/mergers & acquisitions.
• Portfolio transfers.
• Setup of local offices.
• Life insurance, insurance of lines of credit (bank insurance policies, guarantees), liability and damages insurance, maritime insurance, transport insurance.
• Reinsurance litigation.
• Arbitrations and legal actions.
• Out-of-court claims.
• With the support of the Litigation team, Guyer & Regules has successfully intervened in numerous judicial and arbitration proceedings in relation to insurance claims.

Guyer & Regules' Labor Law Department is made up of qualified professionals in the field of consulting on corporate labor law, with wide national and international recognition. The firm advises clients on general labor issues, planning and restructuring, and collective bargaining and agreements.

The firm is recognized for its experience in highly complex cases and has participated in several of the largest such cases in Uruguay, including collective bargaining within individual branches or entire companies, spanning diverse sectors of activity.

Our Labor Law practice area specializes in a wide range of matters, including:

• Representing businesses and business associations before Wage Councils.
• Negotiation and review of labor contracts, termination agreements, and other documents related to individuals employment relationship.
• Labor and social security audits, both in the framework of company purchases (Due Diligence) as well as in the processes of improving compliance with current regulations.
• Creation and modification of compensation practices, such as stock purchasing options, bonus policies, incentive programs and consulting on specific compensation benefits across various departments.
• Reorganization and restructuring, dismissals, voluntary redundancy plans, severity of senior officials, crisis-prevention programs, and negotiations in all areas related to carrying out reorganizations.
• Consulting on areas of occupational health and safety, audits, and design of action plans and protocols.
• Consulting and negotiation in all aspects related to outsourcing of activities.
• Contentious labor issues and dispute resolution, as well as procedures brought before the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
• Courses and training on current regulations for our clients' staff.
• Consultation on matters related to retirement, pensions, social security spending and contributions.
• Migration services: our team specializes in matters related to migration, with vast experience in relocating large groups of employees. Our services focus on assisting in all aspects of relocating the employee and his or her family to our country, including obtaining provisional identification cards, temporary or definitive legal residence, citizenship cards, Uruguayan identification documents, ratification of foreign driving licenses, and assistance in processes before consular departments from the interested party's country of origin.

Guyer & Regules has a team of professionals who specialize in intellectual property and related fields in national and international contexts. We offer consultation throughout each stage of the value chain, including production, content use, and protected assets—and from the preparation, review and negotiation of contracts to court claims and administrative appeals related to such content's protection.

We specialize in the following activities:

• Corporate consultancy: legal opinions; review and negotiation of intellectual property, information technology, and e-commerce contracts. Advertising rights, television and film production contracts. Due diligence on assets, intellectual and technological property contracts, and other complex issues.
• Filing and processing of all intellectual property documents, such as:
• Trademarks
• Industrial property: registration of patents, utility models, industrial designs, and plant variety registration
• Creative content and copyright
• Electronics and information technology
• Audiovisual and media
• Personal data
• Control over personal image and personality attributes
• Litigation: alternative dispute resolutions (including arbitrations and mediations) and judicial proceedings, violations of intellectual property rights, annulment proceedings and appeals, precautionary measures and preliminary precautionary measures, and agreement enforcement proceedings in all above mentioned areas

The Litigation team at Guyer & Regules is made up of professionals with vast experience in litigation. They have experience in each practice area, in order to ensure their clients the best and most effective defense in all cases undertaken. Our prominent international practice allows us to fluently interact/liaise with lawyers in other jurisdictions in order to achieve the best strategies for domestic trials involving highly complex international stakeholders/parties.

We have successfully participated/engaged in the most complex litigation cases that have taken place in Uruguay in the areas comprising civil, commercial, financial and labor law. Our clients include the most prominent banks and financial operators in Uruguay, as well as manufacturers of a diverse range of products such as automobiles, food products, paper, chemical products, petroleum products; distributors; public service providers; insurance companies; construction companies; laboratories; telecommunication companies; embassies; etc

Our Litigation practice area specializes in a wide range of matters, including:

• Representing domestic and foreign clients before Small Claims Courts, Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Administrative Litigation Court in civil, commercial, corporate, tax, administrative litigation and labor proceedings.
• Acknowledgment and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitration awards in Uruguay.
• Consultation on and adoption of precautionary measures, preparatory measures, attachments, etc.
• Administrative appeals, responses to motions filed, and annulment actions brought before Administrative Litigation Court.
• Consultation on bankruptcies and creditors' rights, as well as consultation for debtors during debt restructuring, both in-Court or out-of-Court
• Credit recovery actions

Guyer & Regules has a solid team of recognized professionals who specialize in providing legal counsel and defense for corporations. The firm represents local and international clients on a wide variety of criminal matters.

The broad experience that characterizes our law firm includes: complaints and defense work, internal investigations, compilation and preservation of digital evidence, negotiating agreements and cooperating with government agencies. The multidisciplinary nature of our team enables to act in our clients' best interest on risk prevention and analysis, as well as on adequate planning, internal investigation processes, and strategic reactions upon criminal contingencies.

In this category of practices (occasionally with the assistance of off counsel experts in Criminal Law), our consultation on the following topics particularly stands out:

• Preventative criminal consultation, including compliance programs, due diligence procedures, and other strategies designed to mitigate collateral damage of criminal proceedings, such as purposes, seizure or confiscation of goods, and damage to reputation.
• Fraud and embezzlement, corporate fraud, cybercrime and anti-piracy.
• Environmental law.
• Anti-money laundering.
• Corporate and pension criminal tax law.
• Anti-trustProperty and copyright violations.
• Internal investigations and corporate fraud prosecution.