Headrick renders advising and consulting services in real state matters. The Firm offers assistance in the purchase, sale and development of real property, as well as in the acquiring the necessary documentation in order to carry out said negotiation and to protect real property rights. It has been actively engaged in real estate development, from housing areas to shopping centers to tourist projects, offering advice on the legal structure and configuration, drafting of framework contract and real estate litigation. As part of its work in the drafting of the Law on Mortgage Market and Trust Development No. 189-11, Headrick drafted a reform for the procedure of real state execution.
The Firm provides advice and assistance to private persons and businesses in their relations to the government bureaucracy. In the Administrative area, the Firm has offered advice and guidance in connection with bidding for public works contracts, obtaining licenses to engage in activities regulated by the State, and other dealings with public officials. In the Constitutional area, Headrick has represented important enterprises and business associations in direct unconstitutional actions against laws before the Constitutional Court.
The increase in commercial transactions and the slow pace of ordinary justice have led to a rise in the use of alternative mechanisms for conflict resolution. At Headrick attorneys are aware of the importance of achieving justice in fast and effective ways, which is possible through the methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution. The Firm has taken part in the resolution of disputes through mechanisms of negotiation, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration both institutional and ad-hoc in several local and international cases. The Firm has rendered services in civil and commercial arbitration, cases of international arbitration, all types of negotiations and has as well participated as arbitrators in some proceedings.
Since its inception, the Firm has played a leading role in providing legal services to local and international banking institutions, as well as to other agents of the sector, both in the regulatory aspect as well as financing aspects of any kind. The Firm is counsel to a number of distinguished local and foreign banking and financial institutions, as well as international financing institution and credit organization, including multilateral lending institutions and has participated in the discussion and drafting of monetary and financial regulations in addition to drafting the Law on Mortgage Market and Trust Development No. 189-11.
The Firm took an active part in the deliberations leading to the publication of the Law for the Defense of Competition. The Firm has given opinions on the law and taken it into account in the advice it has rendered in connection with business transactions.
The Firm has wide experience in this practice area, as many of the Firm´s clients are companies that require continuing legal advice in their operations. Our Corporate Law Department regularly provides such services as the formation of companies and limited liability entities for individuals; required acts and processes from the formation to the dissolution of a company or limited liability individual entity; legal audits; purchase and sale of shares or businesses; mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, dissolutions and any kind of reorganization; and strategic alliances. The Firm has participated in large-scale and complex acquisitions of relevant corporate groups, mergers of banks and corporate groups, the restructuring of companies resulting from privatizations, and corporate reorganizations. The Firm has specialized in the General Law of Business Organizations and Individual Limited Liability Entities, having worked actively on such matter and published important articles on that statute.
Partners of the Firm actively participated in the restructuring process of the electrical sector of the Dominican Republic and the reform of the regulatory framework initiated in 1998, and have participated in the drafting of laws, decrees, resolutions and regulations that regulate the sector. Furthermore, have participated in the discussion of the Pact for the Reform of the Electricity Sector on behalf of the private sector and subsequently providing legal advice for new reforms to the Dominican electricity sector and its institutions. The Firm advises multiple national and foreign clients in the negotiation of contracts and financing of renewable and non-renewable electrical projects, obtaining renewable electrical concessions, participation in tenders for the sale of energy and consultations on electrical regulatory matters.
HEADRICK also advises various national and international clients on hydrocarbons.
The services rendered by Headrick in this area have included assistance in the compliance of environmental regulation in the Dominican Republic, including impact studies for industrial and tourist projects, among others. The Firm has also provided legal representation in civil, administrative and criminal cases involving alleged liability for damage to the environment.
In the area of foreign investment, the Firm offers general advice in all aspects regarding the investment of foreign capital in the Dominican Republic and advice to foreign companies wishing to undertake business in the country. The Firm performs the required legal work for investors and enterprises that wish to start operations in the country, including the purchase of real property, the formation of companies, labor relations, tax aspects, qualifying for special incentives, and other matters that arise in day-to-day business.
Headrick renders advising services to companies wishing to set up industries in public or privately-managed industrial free zones and in the establishment of special free trade areas and industrial trade areas of exportation. The Firm also renders multiple services to free zone companies already established.
The Firm has among its clients a complex of the most important insurance and reinsurance companies in the Dominican Republic, to which it provides support in their compliance with administrative regulations as well as the settlement of claims. The Firm has assisted foreign insurance companies in establishing branches in the Dominican Republic, in the rendering of international insurance and brokerage services and in the making of reinsurance contracts. The Firm, by means of its Partners, has had an active participation in the discussion of the Dominican Social Security System regulations.
Headrick’s Intellectual Property/Life Sciences & Healthcare Department is the largest for a full practice firm and the most wide-reaching when compared with other Firms in the Dominican market. Headrick´s team has 2 partners, 6 associates and 2 paralegals that work full time in IP, life sciences and healthcare services, including regulatory work performed for the food and beverage sector.
The Department is recognized for being well diversified and able to handle high profile cases, by developing strategies for clients who seek advice on TM prosecution, patents, copyright, and litigation. Presently, our TM portfolio now surpasses the 8,500 count. This IP practice walks alongside with the regulatory work for food and beverage, and drugs companies, and the work demanded by healthcare providers, the Government itself and multi-national pharmaceuticals, that request advise for better procurement practices, distribution contracts, transactions and all other aspects that could impact access to medications and medical supplies.
Headrick works for international clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Molson Coors, The Hershey Company, Caesars Entertainment, Hilton Worldwide, Arla Foods, Grünenthal, Chinoin, and key local players such as Grupo Puntacana, S.A., Mejía Arcalá (local distributor for Milex) and Grupo SID (Induveca, Mercasid, Agua Crystal).
The Firm has considerable experience in cases involving the regulatory framework of international transactions by representing local and international clients in business activities arising during these times of globalization. Headrick also renders legal services in connection with entering to and executing all sorts of agreements, including without limitation, including concession, franchise, representation and other sort of international trade agreements, with a view to local legislation and international conventions.
The Firm has the privilege to represent large enterprises, both local and international, in this area. Representation involves the rendering of advice on employment and other aspects regulated by labor law, as well as in transactions and litigation before courts or labor authorities. A Partner of the firm is one of the 6 members of the commission appointed by decree of the President for the modification of the Dominican Labor Code, dated 1992. The draft presented for such proposes is now in a phase of negotiation between the labor, business and governmental sectors.
The Firm offers its clients advice and legal representation in all types of litigation (civil, commercial, labor, real state, administrative, criminal) before the courts of the Dominican Republic. The Firm assists clients in finding the most effective way to resolve disputes on a cost effective basis, and also offers advice on ways to prevent future litigation. The Firm’s Litigation Department has grown considerably during recent years and has been involved in some of the most important judicial cases in recent history from the standpoint of the issues debated and the amounts involved.
The location of the Dominican Republic makes it a natural place for the practice of maritime law. Attorneys of the Firm have been involved in the drafting of reform legislation in this area. Additionally, they have taken part in negotiations aimed at settling maritime claims covered by insurance, ship mortgages, and the handling of cases of liability for lost or damaged goods on behalf of carriers and consignees, as well as in obtaining concessions for clients interested in operating ports.
The Firm has assisted both local and foreign clients seeking mining concessions in the Dominican Republic, as well as in matters related to the protection of the environment and natural resources. Headrick has assisted international lending institutions in financing mining ventures of great magnitude.
The firm has advised publicly-held entities as well as private companies in several projects related to the privatization of state enterprises. In these projects Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fernández has represented both the private and the public sectors.
Headrick has rendered advice and consulting services in matters of aviation law. The experience of the Firm in this area has included aircraft leasing, aircraft mortgages, civil liability of airlines, and insurance. The Firm has also assisted clients in obtaining licenses for local and international air transportation. It has also represented insurance companies in defending claims for loss of baggage and damage to merchandise, among others.
The Firm is recognized as a pioneer in the practice of Telecommunication Law in the Dominican Republic. It represents several companies engaged in activities governed by the General Telecommunications Law, for which it has secured operating licenses and interconnection rights. Our attorneys have vast experience in rendering advice and solutions to matters related to regulations, interconnection, frauds, transactions and national and international conflicts related to telecommunications.
The Firm has rendered legal services in connection with the establishment of tourist projects in the country, including obtaining permits from the Tourism Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, financing, and tax exemptions which are applicable to projects in certain parts of the country. The Firm has successfully assisted its clients in the structuring of tourist developments, contemplating the characteristics of investment, environmental impact and financing methods. It provides a broad range of services to companies operating in the tourist sector.
Headrick has assisted clients in the legal processes related to organization, administration and disposition of estate, in the framework of the main legal provisions of the Dominican Republic, including, but not limited to, those regarding intestate succession, gifts and other mechanisms for the transfer of rights or assets. Likewise, the Firm has extensively worked in the estate planning of its clients, which is done using different judicial mechanisms, such as trusts. The Firm participate in the drafting of the Trust Law Project, now Law 189-11.