With the incorporation of Messrs. Sebastián Vedoya and Sergio Arbeleche as partners in 2014, the Firm expanded its legal services to the environmental practice. The immediate synergy between Bruchou and the team headed by Messrs. Vedoya and Arbeleche positioned the Firm in a short period of time as a renowned law firm in this area of practice.
Mrs. Vedoya and Arbeleche have a long career in the environmental sector. They have been working together for almost 20 years, rendering legal advice in natural resources matters, and have been part of the Natural Resources and Environmental sectors in Law Firms that have been leaders in such expertise.
As a consequence of the attention and resolution of highly complex environmental matters, firstly related with the mining and hydrocarbon industry, over time, Messrs. Arbeleche and Vedoya have expanded the practice to another industries (food, agro, pharmaceutical, eolic, solar, electric among other industries).
The focus and specialization on Bruchou & Funes de Rioja’s advice takes as a starting point that the environmental matters have become one of the most important topics in Argentina’s public and private agenda (and worldwide as well).
Notwithstanding the social responsibility they must assume, the development of the environmental issues requires today from companies to include them in their decision-making process, paying particular attention to environmental compliance, and push for the reduction and elimination of environmental contingencies in the development of productive activities and in commercial transactions.
In recent years there has been an increase in the number and complexity of environmental conflicts, mainly due to a significant proliferation of regulations (at national, provincial and even, municipal level), increased litigation, the improvement of public control agencies and increased citizen oversight.
We provide the following services related to environmental law matters, among others:
- Advice on commercial transactions (e.g., mergers and acquisitions, project finance and all kind of commercial contracts);
- Preventive advice;
- Management of environmental conflicts and litigation;
- Conducting environmental legal audits;
- Collaboration in the implementation of environmental management systems and identification of contingencies;
- Assisting clients in the development of new productive projects, in conducting environmental impact assessments and permitting;
- Collaboration in designing compliance programs, remediation, industrial reconversion; and.
- In-house training on environmental matters; and.
- Carbon Trading within the scope of Flexibility Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, particularly the Clean Development Mechanism.
Assistance in environmental issues is part of the comprehensive advice provided by Bruchou & Funes de Rioja to its clients.
The environmental law specialist’s work together with experts from other practice areas, including mining law, oil and gas, power, administrative law, corporate law, banking and capital markets, and litigation, among others, providing skilled advice in general environmental matters and specific of each industry.
