Chapman Wilches

Senior Partners: Charles Chapman López, Mirna Wilches Navarro

Number of partners: 2

Number of lawyers: 62

Contacts Corporate

Counselling/Employment & Social Security: Charles Chapman, Mirna Wilches

Employment related Audit: Charles Chapman, Mirna Wilches

Collective Bargaining Agreements: Charles Chapman, Mirna Wilches

Litigation: Heimy Blanco

Complex Cases Before Supreme Court Of Justice of Colombia: Charles

Chapman, Mirna Wilches

Labour Administrative Proceedings: Charles Chapman, Mirna

Wilches

Firm Overview:

Chapman Wilches is one of the largest and most recognised law firms in Colombia. It has a strong reputation for providing innovative and cutting-edge legal solutions in collective labour law and social security matters accurately for more than 15 years. The firm offers comprehensive legal services and assistance throughout the country and it has offices in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Medellín, Barranquilla, Cartagena. Currently, the firm has five associate lawyers who conduct cases directly located in specific areas and rural municipalities in Colombia.

Therefore, the firm is committed to represent its clients’ interests and priorities by providing high quality legal advice anywhere in Colombia. It is also important to remark that Chapman Wilches maintains policies of inclusion and gender equality, with the aim to promote the advance and empowerment of female attorneys in Colombia. The firm is engaged in helping its female associate lawyers to reach their goals through the projection and development of their careers towards the future. That is why the staff of the firm consists of 62 associates, from which the 74% are female attorneys.

Main

Areas of Practice:

Corporate

Counseling/Employment & Social Security: Chapman Wilches is a well-known law firm for providing accurate

legal support on matters such as retirement plans, direct recruitment processes, outsourcing practices, labor liability, policies, corporate governance, disciplinary proceedings, and processes before public entities such as the UGPP, COLPENSIONES, SENA, and ICBF, among others. In addition, it has extensive expertise in providing legal advice to its clients by defending their interests in the best way possible.

Employment related Audit:

Chapman Wilches aims to improve its clients’ internal labour-oriented practices and performances to prevent the violation of legal dispositions or labor obligations as well as to guarantee their compliance with the law. Therefore, the firm’s strategy implies conducting audits to determine wrongdoings in respect of Colombian legal framework.

Collective Bargaining Agreements:

Over the years, Chapman Wilches has participated in several negotiations between companies and unions, acquiring valuable and sharp experience on such procedures. Conducting 15 negotiations successfully between January 2017 and September 2017, the firm’s estimation is to partake in more than 20 negotiations by the end of this year. It also has conducted negotiations with different companies in a wide range of industry sectors, such as mining, energy, manufacturing, travel (transportation), and education. These events allowed Chapman Wilches to be a well-known firm that works successfully in such crucial and exceptional cases.

Litigation:

Litigation is one of the most recognised and bestknown practice areas of Chapman Wilches. With more than 28 well-trained lawyers in the field, the firm has become one of the most specialised and demanded legal counselor in Colombia. As a result, the firm represents its clients’ before the ordinary jurisdiction and administrative jurisdiction all over the country.

Complex cases before the Colombian Supreme Court:

Chapman Wilches has vast experience in conducting some of the most complex and dense labor judicial proceedings before the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice. These processes involve special abilities due to their structure and particular requirements. As a result, Mr. Chapman is directly in charge of these cases, since he served as Assistant Magistrate of the Labor Law Department of the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice in the past. In the last 12 months, Chapman Wilches has carried out more than 42 cases before this court, being an expression of its commitment to achieve the highest possible level of satisfaction and success for its clients.

Labour Administrative Proceedings:

The performance of labour administrative procedures requires specific skills, special knowledge, and exceptional preparation because such processes involve the application of substantive labor legislation and administrative procedural law all together. Therefore, it is not always easy to handle such cases. In this special area, Chapman Wilches has a well-established practice as it conducts administrative procedures before the Ministry of Labour while developing a solid strategy to address the requirements of public authorities accurately.

Languages:

English, German, Spanish.

International Work:

In addition to Chapman Wilches’ client portfolio in Colombia, Chapman Wilches offers legal advice to multinationals, foreign companies, investors, and individuals. The law firm, through its partners, actively participates in events, meetings and summits concerning employment and labor legislation framework, thanks to its IBA and IOE memberships. On some occasions their partners have participated in national and international panels through these events.

Clients:

Chapman Wilches provides services to a wide range of clients throughout the country, including national and multinational companies of great importance. More than 300 clients in different industrial sectors, government entities, and private or with mixed capital organisations are part of Chapman Wilches portfolio. Five of the 10 largest companies in Colombia prefers Chapman Wilches as their most reliable legal counselor, whose cases represent more than 50% of its labor legal processes index. Chapman Wilches is one of the most

specialised firms preferred by the legal VP vice presidents of the 18 largest companies in Colombia, according to the most recent publication of Dinero, amagazine specialised in economics and markets nationwide