PPU Colombia absorbs local firm, launches insurance practice

Law firm Philippi Prietocarrizosa Ferrero DU & Uría in Colombia has absorbed local firm Rebeca Herrera Abogados, with the firm’s former managing partner Rebeca Herrera joining PPU as counsel, and who will head the firm’s newly launched insurance practice in the country.

The incorporation of the local firm also brings two associates to PPU in Bogotá.

Herrera (pictured) will be accompanied in the insurance practice by associates John Jeider Morales and Gilma Paola Monroy.

Herrera focuses her insurance practice on regulatory matters as well as arbitrations related to the insurance and reinsurance sector and is an arbitration lawyer for Colombia’s Centre of Arbitration and Conciliation (CAC). She is also a member of the board of directors at the Colombian branches of insurance companies BMI Seguros and Zurich. Herrera also practices international trade law.

Herrera launched her former firm in 2013. Prior to that, she worked at British insurance group RSA, managing the company’s portfolio of Colombian assets for two years, which followed her role as a legal director at Colombian insurance group Fasecolda.

Leading the insurance practice at a firm with a widespread Latin American presence will be a new challenge and opportunity for Herrera, the firm said.

The role will allow her “to continue growing along with the support of a large, prestigious law firm, which has all the people, resources and values to make it possible,” she says.

“I foresee that major insurance litigation related to COVID-19 in Colombia will be concentrated in the surety bonds market,” Herrera says, adding that a number of companies are likely to default on debt obligations, which may lead to doubts over the security provided by this type of coverage.

PPU in Colombia is recognised for its solid M&A, project finance and antitrust teams, and also has strong offerings in its banking and finance, and mining and litigation departments.

PPU also has offices in Santiago and Lima alongside its Barranquilla and Bogotá bases in Colombia.