Samuel T. Cespedes Jr.

His main areas of practice are mergers & acquisitions, commercial transactions, municipal financing, distribution & franchise laws, government bids & contracts, housing development, public-private partnerships and government & legislative affairs. He is ranked as one of Puerto Rico's Leading Attorneys in the Corporate/Commercial field by the international publication Chambers & Partnersin both its Global and its Latin America Guides. He is also ranked as a leading attorney by the IFLR1000, an international guide to the world's leading financial and corporate law firms. His experience spans a wide range of practice areas. He has worked in major corporate acquisition transactions in Puerto Rico, such as America Movil's purchase of Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Liberty Cable's acquisition of OneLink, Haemonetics' purchase of Pall Corporation's assets and Hub International's purchase of Carrion, Laffitte & Casellas' stock, as well as major corporate reorganizations (Kraft/Mondelez, Pfizer, and Covidien amongst others). Mr. Cespedes led the team of Firm attorneys that assisted Autopistas Metropolitanas de Puerto Rico LLC, an Abertis/Goldman Sachs consortium that was awarded a concession to operate and maintain two major toll roads in Puerto Rico. This is the first public-private partnership project developed under the Puerto Rico Public Private Partnerships Act of 2009. He has served as bond counsel and underwriter's counsel in bond issuances of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its agencies and instrumentalities, such as Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority, Puerto Rico Municipal Finance Agency, Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority, Puerto Rico Infrastructure Finance Agency, Puerto Rico Industrial, Tourist, Educational, Medical and Environmental Control Facilities Financing Authority (AFICA) and Puerto Rico Public Finance Authority. He has also advised the Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority in debt financing and regulatory matters. He regularly assists clients in understanding the Puerto Rico legislative process and devising lobbying strategies to accomplish their legislation goals in the negotiation of government contracts, and he also works with clients in the drafting and interpretation of distribution and sales representation agreements, as well as entity formation and regulatory matters related to the establishment of operations in Puerto Rico. Before joining the Firm in 1993, he worked as law clerk to Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice, selected as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program. He served as Deputy Director and General Counsel of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, D.C., and as Legal Counsel to Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon.

• Capital Member and Chair, Corporate Practice Group

• Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez, United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico, Law Clerk
• United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Trial Attorney
• Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, Washington, D.C., Deputy Director and General Counsel
• Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon, Legal Counsel

• Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
• Pennsylvania

• Puerto Rico Bar Association (Member)