Samuel T. Céspedes Jr. 

Mr. Céspedes is a Capital Member of the Firm and Chairman of the Corporate Practice Group. He is leader of the Mergers and Acquisitions and the Government Affairs Practice Teams. Mr. Céspedes is the Firm's Marketing Partner and member of the Firm's Practice Management Committee.

His main areas of practice are mergers & acquisitions, commercial transactions, municipal financing, distribution & franchise laws, government bids & contracts, housing development and government & legislative affairs.

Mr. Céspedes joined the Firm in 1993. Before joining the Firm, he worked as law clerk to Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez 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. Mr. Céspedes also served as Deputy Director and General Counsel of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, D.C., and as Legal Counsel to the Governor of Puerto Rico.

Mr. Céspedes’ experience spans a wide range of practice areas. He has worked in major corporate acquisition and sale transactions in Puerto Rico, such as Univision's acquisition of El Mundo Broadcasting Corp.’s radio stations, Univision's acquisition of local TV's Channel 11, Shell Chemical's purchase of Sun Oil petrochemical refinery, America Móvil’s purchase of Puerto Rico Telephone Company, and the sale of Choice Cable.

Mr. Céspedes also 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 also has served as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel in bond issues 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. He also works with clients in the drafting and interpretation of distribution and sales representation agreements, and has assisted several clients in the local regulatory and financing aspects of renewable energy projects and with government contracts in general, as well as entity formation and regulatory matters related to the establishment of operations in Puerto Rico.