About our firm
“We are a law firm where our clients feel at home, and Protected, Served, and Supported.
Since 1952, when our firm began, Pellerano & Herrera has participated in the most important business and legal milestones in the Dominican Republic. Our pioneering and innovative nature is a direct result of the vitality and dynamism that characterizes our corporate DNA.
The original charters of many prominent Dominican and international companies have been drafted in our firm. Not only were leading companies created here, but for half a century we have been the cradle of different industries that remain vigorous today.
Our team also has served as counsel in the largest purchases and sales, international commerce deals, and foreign investment transactions that ever have taken place in the history of the Dominican Republic.
Throughout our institutional life, we always have been at the forefront of legal, technological, and entrepreneurial matters, without our team of lawyers and advisers losing sight of the principal beneficiaries of our work: our clients.
We serve our clients’ international needs through the global reach we provide as the exclusive member firm in the Dominican Republic for Lex Mundi – the world’s leading network of independent law firms with in-depth experience in 100+ countries worldwide.
History
Our firm began with two lawyers, more than 60 years ago, advising and counseling anyone and everyone who needed legal services in the old city of Santo Domingo, then the financial district of the capital of the Dominican Republic.
Today, Pellerano & Herrera is acknowledged as the leading law firm in the Dominican Republic – as we have been for more than the past 25 years. We have represented, and we continue to represent, our clients in the most important and groundbreaking transactions that take place in the country.
We are a team of more than 40 specialists from different areas of law and business, recognized as the most professional, the most competent, and the most sophisticated in our country. Our lawyers bring wisdom and years of experience, as well as enthusiasm and a desire for success, to work for our clients – which include leading domestic and international companies – in some of the most significant legal matters that they face.
The essence of our service is the same today as it was when our firm began practicing law more than six decades ago – but it is now strengthened by an advanced information technology platform, our implementation of best management practices, and our adoption of an industry-leading knowledge management program.
Our firm offers the same qualities and warmth as it did when we were small, but that comes now with a global outreach and with comprehensive solutions for all of our clients’ legal needs, whether they are inside or outside the country.
Awards and Recognitions
Pellerano & Herrera is the leading law firm in the Dominican Republic. We are the first and only law firm in Central America and in the Caribbean that has been awarded the world’s most important legal industry award – “Law Firm of the Year” – in six out of the past nine years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017). We have been named “Law Firm of the Year” of the Dominican Republic by the prestigious British ranking firm Chambers & Partners, according to client interviews.
Awards and Recognitions that we recently have received include:
“Law Firm of the Year” of the Dominican Republic, Chambers Latin America Awards for Excellence
2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017
LatinFinance recognized Pellerano & Herrera for involvement in Dominican sovereign bonds issuance
2018
“National Law Firm of the Year” of the Dominican Republic, 2017 IFLR Americas Awards
2017, 2018, 2019
“Law Firm of the Year” of the Dominican Republic, Who’s Who Legal Awards
2017, 2018
Top Ranked “Leading Firm” by Chambers Global and Chambers Latin America Guide
2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019,2020
“Leading Firm” in the Dominican Republic by Latin Lawyer
2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019
“Top Tier Firm” by The International Financial Law Review (IFLR1000)
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020
“Top Tier Firm” by the Legal 500 Guide
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020
“Most Admired Law Firm” in the Dominican Republic in the “Most Admired Companies” ranking by Revista Mercado, the most prestigious Dominican business magazine
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018,2019
“Best company to work for” by Revista Mercado, the most prestigious Dominican business magazine
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020
“Topbrand” of the Dominican Republic by Superbrands UK
2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019.
“Largest Law Firm in the Dominican Republic” by Marcasur, the most highly-regarded intellectual property publication in Latin America
2009, 2010
“Sovereign Liability Management of the Year 2015” by LatinFinance Deals of the Year Awards. Pellerano & Herrera assisted underwriters in the bond offering of the Dominican state.
2015
“Deal Maker of the Year Awards 2015” by Finance Monthly. Pellerano & Herrera counselled Grupo Popular in a US$100 million corporate bond issuance of Desarrollos Sol, local subsidiary of renowned hotel group, Meliá Group.
2015
“Deal of the Year 2010” in Project Finance from Latin Lawyer, for Pellerano & Herrera’s work with Barrick Gold Corporation and the Pueblo Viejo Mine Financing
2011
“Private Equity Deal of the Year 2009,” from the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) for Pellerano & Herrera’s work as legal counsel to the buyers in the acquisition of the Dominican Republic’s airports
2009
ESG
Pellerano & Herrera believes in developing the social fabric. We cannot conceive of the success of our firm without the success of the country we serve, which is why we are committed to the development of the Dominican Republic. We help to propel our country by promoting private investment, both domestic and foreign, by actively defending human rights, by respecting the environment, and by enhancing our students’ education.
Chambers Global
The Pellerano & Herrera Foundation was created over 20 years ago to promote and implement the values and skills of our lawyers on others, with the goal of improving our society.
The Pellerano & Herrera Foundation is actively involved in the publication of legal books and magazines through Editora Capeldom, owned by Pellerano & Herrera, which has sponsored outstanding Dominican authors for more than 40 years. About 100 publications on legal issues have been produced as a result of this joint effort between the Foundation and Editora Capeldom.
Through the Master’s in Legal Practice, taught in-house at Pellerano & Herrera with the collaboration of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra and the Foundation, our firm provides scholarships to honorary students selected for their superior academic record.
The Foundation also is a space for collaboration, fostering and organizing volunteer programs, fundraising, and social and educational initiatives for lawyers.
At Pellerano & Herrera, we strongly believe in justice above all. For this reason, we spend much of our time, talent, and effort in cases whose only reward is that justice, our common welfare, and the respect for human rights prevail.
Our lawyers provide pro bono advice in cases and matters involving education, freedom of information, and the protection of local businesses, among other topics that we have chosen for their significance to society.
Historically, our firm has conducted multiple campaigns and outreach activities to improve public awareness about human rights, civil and constitutional issues, respect for personal integrity, and a culture of peace.
Pellerano & Herrera adopted a “Green Office” philosophy in 2009, when we began introducing practices to minimize the impact of our operations on the environment.
As part of these efforts, we meet international standards to reduce our carbon footprint by minimizing the amount of waste and our consumption of natural resources while increasing our recycling efforts.
We also support environmental damage remediation projects and the development and use of alternative sources of energy.
Pellerano & Herrera is a member of the Legal Sector Alliance, an international network of law firms committed to working together against climate change by reducing our carbon footprint and by adopting environmentally sustainable practices not only in the law firms that are part of the network, but also in their employees’ homes and in their supplier’s facilities.
This is the first awareness campaign ever launched by a law firm in the Dominican Republic. This campaign addressed to the general public, has the goal of making people aware of their rights and duties as are consigned in the Constitution and other laws, in order to contribute to the legal knowledge of the population.
Press release: “Pellerano & Herrera launches awareness campaign”
Young lawyers dream of working at our firm, and we make certain that we hire the most talented. We have a specially-designed career plan for our young attorneys, and an in-house master’s program. Perhaps as a result, they consistently choose us as one of “The Best Companies to Work for in the Dominican Republic.”
Professional Development
Pellerano & Herrera offers a personalized career plan for all attorneys that begins when they join us. We conduct an annual evaluation of each team member, considering relevant aspects of his or her personal and professional development. Based on this assessment, each lawyer’s career is developed and enhanced through training that occurs inside and outside our firm, locally and internationally, with the goal of strengthening both the professional skills and the service skills of our lawyers.
Recruitment
Our firm hires most of our young lawyers through the Master’s in Legal Practice program, a postgraduate academic program created by the Pellerano & Herrera Foundation and Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra to train Dominican lawyers and to develop the country’s most promising attorneys. Additionally, we hire experienced professionals where needed to support a practice area and to help to serve as mentors to our younger lawyers.
Why join our team?
As an icon of law in the Dominican Republic, Pellerano & Herrera has worked on the cases and matters that have had the most significant social and economic impact in the country.
At our firm, knowledge is valued, managed, and transferred from generation to generation while the spirit of service is spread from lawyer to lawyer and the commitment to innovation is enhanced for all.
What are we looking for?
At Pellerano & Herrera, we seek intellectually curious and creative people with an excellent background, a high level of commitment, and the ability to work in teams. Our lawyers must have a passion for law, for professional development, and for human interaction. We prefer innovative professionals who are experienced users of new technologies, but who are especially aware that nothing replaces the person-to-person approach to the practice of law.