Kennedys appoints four partners across Latin America in annual promotions round

We are delighted to announce the appointment of four new partners in our latest annual round of promotions across Latin America.

The new cohort, part of 20 promoted globally, are equally split with two men and two women and take the total number of partners to 316 worldwide.

They are Catalina Botero, based in Bogota, Kodiak Semsch Gutierrez in Lima, and Javier Vijil and Lorena Avila in the regional hub for Latin America and the Caribbean in Miami.

Lorena Avila works for major insurers and reinsurers on large and complex claims in Venezuela and the rest of Latin America. Her experience is also focused on regulatory and insurance transactional matters and providing legal assistance to international reinsurers and intermediaries to comply with the regulatory framework for insurance activity in Latin America. Lorena is also a member of our Caribbean practice team. In addition, Lorena focuses on liability, including medical malpractice claims, and property damage.

Catalina Botero focuses on complex insurance coverage matters, in all phases of claim and dispute resolution for a variety of first and third party coverage and claims handling issues. She specializes in Colombian law, representing insurers and reinsurers in matters involving directors and officers, crime, professional liability, construction, property damage, and life claims.

Kodiak Semsch Gutierrez has nearly two decades’ experience participating before Peru´s main jurisdictional authorities in judicial and arbitration disputes regarding civil, commercial and constitutional matters, insurance law, administrative law, as well as dispute resolution through alternative methods such as negotiation, mediation and conciliation. Kodiak has gathered the necessary experience to provide his clients with preventive counsel on potentially litigious matters.

Javier Vijil specialises in cyber insurance and is actively developing the firm’s cyber insurance practice in Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically its cyber incident response practice, and serves as a hub for global claims that affect the Latin American and Caribbean region. In addition to serving on the breach response teams for a number of carriers, Javier has also worked on cyber wordings specifically for Latin America and provided coverage opinions on cyber claims in the region. Javier is also specialised in financial lines with a particular emphasis on directors’ and officers’ (D&O) insurance. In particular, as he is qualified in both New York and Florida, Javier frequently works on cross-border securities class actions alongside the US team, bringing the US and Latin American regions together.

Anna Weiss, Kennedys’ regional managing partner for LATAM and Caribbean hub in Miami, said: “The talent and drive of my wonderful colleagues has helped establish Kennedys as a market leader for our region and I am delighted to see four such strong individuals recognised for the valuable contribution they have made.”

Nick Thomas, senior partner, added: “It brings me great pleasure every year to see our up and coming lawyers’ hard work recognised with promotion to partnership. The firm would not be where it is without the talent and tenacity of all of our lawyers, in seeking the very best outcomes for our clients and I look forward to many more equally well deserved promotions in the years to come.”

We have the largest reach of any insurance law firm in the region with seven own offices and 6 associate offices across LATAM and were recognised as a leading firm for each one in this year’s The Legal 500 and Chambers Latin America