Morales, Dhimes, Marra & Guerrero is a law firm which provides specialized legal services to national and international clients. The firm=s associates are: Dr. Julio Morales, economist and lawyer; Dr. Jacqueline Dhimes, lawyer, graduated from the University of Navarra, Spain, specializing in Business Law; Dr. Xavier Marra, lawyer and stock broker for the Santo Domingo Stock Exchange; and Dr. Mario Guerrero Heredia, lawyer.
The office is located in Suite No. 357 of Plaza Central, the biggest and most modern shopping center in the Dominican Republic, with easy access from the mall=s covered parking lot. Our telephone number is (809)541-1295 and our fax number is (809)544-3772. Being our client=s needs our major priority, our associates are all equipped with cellular phones to ensure our clients= communication with us at all times.
Our law firm offers specialized services in all the areas of law, permitting our clients to implement their commercial decisions and compete efficiently in their surroundings, keeping up with the changing legal structure, which requires correct interpretation and strict follow-up. The primary objective of our lawyers is to advise our clients, in order to prevent and solve all legal conflicts that could arise which hinder the smooth running of their business, in all areas of law, including: civil, commercial, labour, tributary, penal and international. Destined to avoid costly litigations, we try to offer our clients several options for the solutions to conflicts.
Taking into consideration the growing importance of commerce, the internalization of companies, as well as the flow of foreign investors to the Dominican Republic, we have formed a bilingual group, which specializes in corporate and international matters. This enables us to offer a high-quality service in accordance with international standards and the professional demands from this type of clientelle. The preparation of our associates, specially in the corporate and financial areas, enables us to offer the most complete solutions for the necessities of our clients.
One of our main attributes is our ability to be flexible and innovative, this makes us implement new programs as often as required to attend to our client=s needs. This innovative attitude prompted us to connect modern computer equipment and access systems to the network of international information through Internet, which enables us to increase efficiency in the management and organization of documents.
Hereunder, we present a brief description of the services our firm offers, as well as a brief resume of our associates.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
The law firm=s practice is very broad and varied; it includes not only the most common branches of law, but also the least known. What is most important for Morales, Dhimes, Marra & Guerrero is serving and offering creative solutions to our clients, with the goal of being the leader in providing professional services and business consultations. Our range of services is strategically designed to offer our clients benefits through consultation and advice in the following branches:
* COMMERCIAL AND TAXES: The lawyers in the business and finance section advise companies and individuals about corporate matters. Our practice in this area is based on the specialization of firm members in fiscal, banking, stock market, national and international loans. Our attorneys in business and finance advise corporate executives in respect to formation of companies, increase in company=s capital, register or change of commercial names, assistance and redactation of General Shareholder=s Meetings, liquidation of companies, formation of off-shore companies, incorporations of non-profitmaking institutions, representation and council, restructure and reorganization of companies, representation and consultation in company fusions and adquisition or sale of companies, redactation of contracts and commercial agreements, consultation and redactation of joint venture agreements, consultation in reference to Law 173, foreign investment, exportation free-zones and leasing operations, among others.
* REAL-ESTATE: Our firm is involved in all legal aspects related to the negotiation and implementation of real-estate adquisitions and mortgage transactions. Within this area, the firm offers the following services: council in real-estate operations, redactation of real-estate sale contracts, leasing and exchanging, renting of real-estate, obtaining title deeds, resolutions of the Superior Land Court, formation of condominiums, advice in liquidation of taxes deriving from transfers, evictions, mortgages and real-estate priviledges. We have provided assistance to national and international clients in the adquisition of real-estate in the Dominican Republic and abroad.
* STOCK MARKET: The participation of two of our associates, Dr. Jacqueline Dhimes and Dr. Xavier Marra, in the creation process of a stock exhange market in the Dominican Republic locates Morales, Dhimes, Marra & Guerrero in the forefront of the legal structure where stock market transactions are made in the Dominican Republic. In this respect, the firm offers it=s clients legal advice and council on stock offers and investing in stock in both the public and private market, presentation of offers, fusions and adquisitions, open-market operations and stock operations in general.
* INTELECTUAL LAW: The department on intelectual law advises clients in the following: registration of commercial names, brand names, slogans, obtaining of patents, health and sanitary registrations, transfers of brand names due to fusions or adquisitions, representation of clients in processes of oposition and cancellation, as well as litigations derived from violation of industrial property. We provide council for the protection of author=s rights.
* LABOUR: The firm, specializing in business law, has always given this branch alot of attention, since we believe labour law is one of the most important branches in a company=s legal structure. We believe it is the conjugation of the contributions of capital and work, which constitute the commercial corporation.
* LITIGATIONS: Our lawyers represent clients in litigations involving practically any matter with legal relevance that the firm practices : civil, labour, commercial, penal, real-estate matters, embargos and fulfillment of guarantees.
* PERSONAL AND CIVIL LAW: Our lawyers in the civil law department advise our clients concerning enjoyment and deprivation or loss of civil rights; civil acts (birth, marriage, death); marriage establishment; redactation of contracts and agreements; termination of contracts; redactation and legalization of powers of attorney; redactations of sworn statements; succesoral negotiations, donations, inheritance, wills, family rights; civil responsiblities and divorces, among others.
* ECONOMIC LEGISLATION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND FOREIGN COMMERCE: The Dominican Republic is actually immersed in a process of reactivation of economic activities and in a competition to attract foreign investors. These efforts have oriented us towards an economy based on the sale of services and the production of exportable goods, in order to obtain foreign currency. This has required the adoption of legislative measures that promote and regulate activities, which until now, were rarely used.
Morales, Dhimes, Marra & Guerrero, trying to fulfill these needs, has put together a team of lawyers to advise our clients in the establishment of new free-zones and development of the existing ones; offers consultation and council on current legislations in the Dominican Republic to foreign companies (Law for Foreign Investment, Tourist Incentives of the Dominican Republic, Promotion for Exportations, Agroindustrial Incentives and Protection, Incentives for the National Electrical Development, Incentives for Forest Development, Syndicate for State Constructions, Protection for Importing Agents, Decree regulating the adquisition of real-estate by foreigners, among others).
The law firm=s lawyers have experience in Foreign Commerce: in International Contracting, in the international mechanisms for paying and collecting, International Financing, International Marketing, International Transportation and International Insurance, among others.
* IMMIGRATION: Morales, Dhimes, Marra & Guerrero provide assistance to their clients in obtaining Student Visas, Tourist Visas, Business Visas, Resident Visas, provisional and definite residences. The Immigration Department of the firm concentrates on corporate immigration matters, providing legal assistance to foreign executives in obtaining the visas required to be able to transfer from their country=s office and work in the subsidiaries or affiliated operations of their company in the Dominican Republic. We also advise clients on changes of status as residents or adjusments to their status and in everything concerning their conversion to permanent residents or foreign citizens who want to adopt Dominican nationality.
Hereunder, we provide a brief resume of each of the firm=s associates.
JULIO MORALES RUS
He obtained his bachelor=s degree in Economics in 1991. He alternated his last year of economics studies with his first year in law school, obtaining his Doctorate in Law with Magna Cum Laude honors in 1994.
His professional career began in 1992 in Russin, Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti law firm. He worked there until 1994, when he left for Boston, to study at Harvard to perfect his English.
At Russin, Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti, he acquired experience in the areas of civil, commercial and labour litigations, with national as well as international clients. His legal and economic preparation made it possible for him to offer business advice and have an active participation in financial and tributary consultations.
He was an active participant in the coordination and conduction of the XI and XII Labour Seminaries sponsored by Russin, Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti in the years 1993 and 1994.
JACQUELINE DHIMES
Degree in law, Magna Cum Laude, 1987, Universidad Nacional Pedro HenrRquez UreZa (UNPHU). Specialized in Business Law, 1991, Universidad de Navarra, Spain.
Her area of concentration is Business Law, she specializes in giving legal advice on business transactions and international negotiations.
She obtained her bachelor=s degree in Law at the Universidad Nacional Pedro HenrRquez UreZa (UNPHU) in 1987. From the time of her graduation and until 1989, she worked for the law firm Delgado Malag\n, where she concentrated on the commercial and civil areas, as well as litigations. She was then hired by the law firm Pellerano & Herrera, where she worked until 1995. Here she acquired experience in corporate matters and in foreign investment, being in charge of all negotiations with international clientelle, supervision of paralegals and lawyers in her department, and the areas of industrial property and corporations.
Her professional experience includes: company formations and other corporate legal matters, i.e. joint ventures, bank and corporate fusions, creation of commercial groups, opening and establishment of branch offices and subsidiaries in the Dominican Republic of foreign companies, contractual agreements, sale of company assets and shares, technical assistance in the signing of contracts, registry of foreign debts, administrative contracts and contracts in general, advice in stock market negotiations, customs taxes, representation of international products and, in general, council in business, labour and tributary matters. Her work experience includes foreign negotiations, negotiations with the Dominican government for the signing and development and financing of important electrical networks in the country, etc.
In September 1990, she travelled to Spain to complete her academic preparation, obtaining her degree in Business Law from the prestigious Navarra University. She later travelled to Oxford, England to perfect her English. She is fluent in English and French, as well as her native language, Spanish.
She has taken several courses in national universities, as well as in the University of Navarra on various themes pertaining to Business Law and the European Community. In 1992 she participated in a training program in the institutions that make up the stock market in Mexico.
She participated in the elaboration and discussion of the Projected Stock Market Law and in the elaboration of the legal aspects of the reports made for the World Bank by the firm Coopers & Lybrand on the privatization of the Corporaci\n Dominicana de Electricidad (the Dominican Electric Corporation). She has advised important foreign companies on the implementation of joint ventures with local companies.
In April 1995 she was selected to participate in a contest convoked by the European Community through the National Ordainer=s office for the LomJ IV Convention to carry out a legal consultation on the Refrigerated Terminals Project to be installed in the country.
In 1992 and 1993 she was a professor of Stock Market Law for the Degree of Law and the Masters on Economic Legislation at the Pontificia Universidad Cat\lica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). She is currently a professor of Economic and Corporate Legislation in the Doctorate of Law at the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE). She advises law students in both universities on their thesis and term papers. She is also a lecturer of the Instituto Dominicano de Mercado de Capitales (INMEC), which is the Dominican institute for the market of capitals.
She has lectured on business themes in various courses and seminaries by the INMEC and the Asociaci\n Nacional de Jovenes Empresarios (ANJE), which is the national association of young entrepeneurs.
She is the author and co-author of articles in national and international magazines and in local newspapers. AThe Santo Domingo Stock Exchange: legal and operative framework@, AThe Legal Framework for the Commercialization of Stock@, ALegal and Operative Framework of the Stock Market@, ASecurities Law in the Dominican Republic@ (published by the magazine LatinFinance in 1993), AForeign Investment in the Dominican Republic@ (published by the magazine LatinFinance in 1994), AThe Privatization of the Corporaci\n Dominicana de Electricidad (Dominican Electric Corporation)@ (published in the Listin Diario, Economics Section, June 1995).
XAVIER MARRA
Bachelor in Law, 1991. Pontificia Universidad Cat\lica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). Postgraduate in Stock Market Law, 1992. Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE). Stock broker for The Santo Domingo Stock Exchange,Inc.
His areas of specialization are Business, Commercial, Bank and Stock Market Law. He concentrates on council and company consultation, as well as the managment of financial matters.
He began his professional career in 1992 in the Banco Nacional de CrJdito where he was trained in different areas. In June of that same year he was named assistant manager of the legal department of the bank, being in charge of legal matters related to personal banking. He later worked as a legal consultant to the officers of the international division of the bank. In 1993 he was designated as Legal Manager to the Magna Group, giving legal advice to this group which is dedicated to importation, tourism, banking, insurance and international business.
His work experience includes formation and reestructuration of commercial companies, fusions, creation of corporate groups, redactation and negotiation of contracts, impositive consultations, prosecutions, resolution and consultation of labour conflicts, etc.
He has taken several courses in the Dominican Republic related to legal practice in banking, labour, fulfillment of contracts, contracts, economic and stock market legislation and business law.
He is fluent in English and French and is the author of various articles related to the emergence and development of the stock market in the Dominican Republic and has lectured on this subject in different universities and associations in the country.
MARIO A. GUERRERO HEREDIA
Doctor in Law, Cum Laude. Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE), 1993. At present, he is taking courses towards obtaining his Masters Degree in Economic Legislation in the Pontificia Universidad Cat\lica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).
He began his professional career in 1990, as a legal assistant, in the law firm of Dr. Juan Bosco Guerrero. While working there he acquired experience in Dominican Real-Estate Law and matters pertaining to the legislation of lands and telecommunications.
In 1993, he began working for Ramirez & Angeles Law Firm / Oficobros as a legal assistant and later associate lawyer. His work consisted of collections and execution of contracts, as well as incorporations and installation of exportation free-zones, always following the legislations valid in the Dominican Republic. In 1995 he was assistant lawyer to the Selman group, which conducts business in the tourism and information sectors. He worked in all areas of law, specially in civil litigations, execution of contracts and labour problems, redactation of contracts; in general, rendering services in the corporate area.