MIAMI (April 24, 2014) The international law firm Greenberg Traurig today announced that Robert J. Downing has joined the firm as a Shareholder in its Latin American and Iberian Practice Group and Global Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group. Downing, who will split his time between the firm’s Miami and Houston offices, focuses his practice on international business transactions, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, finance, corporate/tax structuring, privatizations and project development. His key areas of concentration are complex energy transactions and media and entertainment law.
Downing is board-certified in Florida in international law. Throughout his career, he has worked on a broad range of commercial, trade, structured, debt and equity financings, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East. He also has significant experience evaluating Latin American government regulatory matters in the energy and infrastructure sectors and has negotiated trans-national supply chain and procurement agreements throughout Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
“We are pleased to add an attorney of Robert’s caliber to our team as part of our commitment to align our firm with the industry’s best and brightest minds. His expertise in the energy and infrastructure sectors in Latin America will serve as a tremendous resource for our domestic and international clients,” said Patricia Menéndez-Cambó, Chair of the Global Practice and Co-Chair of the Global Energy & Infrastructure Practice, who also serves as the firm’s Vice President and Secretary.
Added Yosbel A. Ibarra, Co-Chair of the Latin American and Iberian Practice and a Shareholder in the Miami office: “Robert will help us to continue to provide the type of cross-border, business-oriented solutions that our clients are seeking in today’s global marketplace, where they want trusted legal advisors who can serve as their business partners in the region.”
Before joining Greenberg Traurig, Downing worked as Associate General Counsel at Duke Energy International, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, the largest electric utility in the United States. He also served as Senior Attorney at the Cisneros Group, a Venezuelan multimedia and telecommunications conglomerate with global operations, and as Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Telemundo Network Group.
Downing received a master of laws degree in energy, environmental and natural resources law from the University of Houston School of Law; a law degree from Columbia University School of Law; and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Columbia University.
His professional and community involvement includes membership in the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, The Florida Bar, the New Mexico Bar, and the Columbia University Alumni Clubs of South Texas and South Florida.
Greenberg Traurig’s multidisciplinary Latin American and Iberian team, part of the firm’s Corporate & Securities Practice Group, has wide-ranging experience representing U.S. and international clients who engage in cross-border business in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as advising Latin American and Spanish clients on their business ventures in the Americas. The Latin American and Iberian Practice spans across 15 Greenberg Traurig offices, bringing together multilingual and multicultural lawyers located in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, New York, Orlando, Palm Beach, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C.
The firm’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group provides advice and services to companies and entrepreneurs throughout the Americas, in Europe and Asia, in locations where clients are already doing business or where they want to do business. Its group of more than 350 corporate and securities lawyers brings together the strategic business, legal and market experience needed to manage and close the most complex transactions as well as provide savvy yet practical counsel on day-to-day operations.
Greenberg Traurig’s Global Energy & Infrastructure Practice brings together a multidisciplinary team of professionals from across the firm to assist clients with a broad range of national and international project finance and infrastructure development opportunities. The Global Energy & Infrastructure team advises energy companies, utilities, project developers, investors, regulators, government entities and other industry participants on key issues and challenges affecting their businesses.