Profile of the Founder
Alfredo L. Rovira
Dr. Alfredo L. Rovira, founder of Estudio Rovira,has served for more than 20 years as
Managing Partner of Brons & Salas, one of the most distinguished law firms in Buenos Aires. He was Senior Partner and Co-Chair of the Corporate Department for more than 30
years and founded and Chaired the Arbitration Group for more than 10 years.
Dr. Rovira has also dedicated time of his practice to his academic endeavors. He served
as part-time professor in Business Laws at the School of Law and at the School of
Economic Sciences, both of the University of Buenos Aires, as well as teaching as visiting
professor at other public and private universities in Argentina and Uruguay.
In recognition of his varied and extensive academic activity, Dr. Rovira has been designed
as a Member of the Business Law Institute of the National Law Academy (Academia
Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales) and as a Correspondent Member of the Business
Law Institute of the School of Law of Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
EDUCATION
Dr. Rovira received his LL.B. in 1967 from the University of Buenos Aires and graduated as Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from the School of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (Cum Laude) in 2003. His thesis on Shareholders Agreements was nominated to the “Premio Facultad” (School of Law Award), School of Law of the University of Buenos Aires.
PRACTICE AREAS
Dr. Rovira´s current practice focuses on corporate affairs, mergers and acquisition
(including antitrust issues), joint venture transactions, negotiation and drafting of
contracts, complex litigation and international and domestic commercial arbitration (as
arbitrator, expert witness or lawyer).
Dr. Rovira has been widely recognized by his peers, Chambers and publications in
Argentina and Latin America as the lead reference in Corporate / M&A, Insolvency and
Commercial and Corporate Litigation in Argentina, included as one of the top 10 business
lawyers in Argentina by specialized magazines and publications and permanently
recognized by Who´s Who Legal as an expert in Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate
Governance and Restructuring & Insolvency, and by Chambers and Partners as an expert
in arbitration.
Dr. Rovira has extensive experience in corporate governance, having served as a member
of the Board in several private and public companies, as well as advisor to Board
members in closed corporations, family owned companies and local subsidiaries of
multinational companies.
Dr. Rovira has advised family groups in transitioning from “family” to “professional”
corporations making available his experience in drafting “family protocols” and
“shareholders agreements”.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
Since 1976, Dr. Rovira has been serving as Professor of Commercial Law at the School of
Law of the University of Buenos Aires. In recognition of his varied and extensive academic
activity, Dr. Rovira has been designed as a Chair Consulting Professor (Profesor Titular
Consulto) by appointment of the High Council of the University of Buenos Aires and
Member of the Juris Doctor Council of the School of Law of the University of Buenos Aires
(2019-2020).
Dr. Rovira has served as a Professor of Corporate Law at the School of Economic Sciences
of the same university.
He has been teaching Post Graduate Courses and courses at the Master’s in Business Law
Programs at different universities (Universidad Austral 1992/2006, Buenos Aires y
Rosario; Universidad Notarial Argentina, Universidad Argentina de la Empresa y
Universidad Siglo XXI) and at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina and University
of Buenos Aires since 2007.
In addition, he has been a visiting professor of Post Graduate Courses in Business Law at
several Bar Associations in Argentina and Faculty and panelist at CLE Programs organized
by the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.
His books on corporate law and on foreign companies are of obligatory use and
permanent reference as bibliography to consult, both by doctrinaires, judges, lawyers
and students in Argentina.
Memberships – Languages
Dr. Rovira is a Certified Mediator and Arbitrator in domestic and international
arbitrations and served as a member of the Special Legislative Committee created by
Decree No. 958/91 for the drafting of a General Arbitration Law and also served by invitation of the Secretary of Finance of the Ministry of Economy, Argentina as a
consultant in the drafting process of the Corporate Governance Statute enacted by
Decree 677/2001.
Dr. Rovira is a member of the Standing Arbitration Panel of the Commercial Dispute
Resolution Center of the Americas, Miami, Florida, USA. and other arbitration panels. At
the American Bar Association, Section of International Law and Practice he served as a
coordinating member for Argentina (1995-1999) and as representative of Foreign Lawyers
on the American Bar Association Council of such Section. From 2000 to 2002 he served as
co-chair of the Inter-American Law Committee of the American Bar Association, Section
of International Law and Practice. From 2002 to 2003 he served as Chair of the Inter-
American Law Committee. From 2003 to 2006 acted as a member of the Latin America
Law Initiative Council Advisory Council of the American Bar Association. From 2005 to
2007 he was the Vice-Chair of the International Securities and Capital Markets
Committee, and at the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association he currently
serves as Vice-Chair of the International Litigation Sub-Committee of the Business and
Corporate Litigation Committee, and served as co-Vice Chair of the Corporate
Governance Committee (2012-2014) and Chair of the International Developments
Subcommittee of the Corporate Governance Committee (2010-2012).
From 2000 to 2004, he served as Board Member of the Colegio de Abogados de la Ciudad
de Buenos Aires and from 2004 to 2006, he served as Chairman of the Commercial Law
Committee at the same organization. Dr. Rovira has been a member of the Honorary
Advisory Council on Antitrust Matters of the Cámara de Sociedades Anónimas since 2000
and currently serves as member of the Legal Consulting Committee to the Board of such
Association. Since 1992 up to 2015, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of
the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (AMCHAM); and since 1988 up to now,
he has served as President of the Tax and Legal Affairs Committee of AMCHAM.
Dr. Rovira speaks, reads and writes Spanish and English and has full reading capacity in
French, Italian and Portuguese.
PAST AND RECENT EXPERIENCE
During his extensive practice he was involved in major projects such as the structuring
and negotiation of the largest gas pipeline in Argentina ("The Center West Gas Pipeline”
Gasoducto Centro Oeste) for which project teaming up with international prestigious law
firms put together the "Project Financing" for such project, having been the largest project financing ever put together in Argentina. Gasoducto Centro Oeste is one of the 3
largest gas pipelines in the world.
He also was the Project Leader for the legal structuring of several multinational
companies establishing in Argentina, such as General Motors Corporation, McDonald´s
Corporation, Standard & Poors, SHV Holdings NV (Supermercados Mayoristas Makro S.A.),
Sumitomo Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, etc. and negotiated and worked in
relevant acquisitions in Argentina for major multinationals such as The Clorox Company,
Owens Illinois, Inc., WPP Group Plc., Publicis Groupe S.A., etc.
Dr. Rovira was a member of the Legislation Committee created by Decree 958/1991 for
the drafting of a General Arbitration Law and also was called to act as a consultant to
the Ministry of Finance in the drafting of the Corporate Governance and Transparency Bill
passed by Decree 677/2001.
Dr. Rovira acted as arbitrator and counsel to parties in arbitrations, both as claimant or
defendants and was retained to act as expert witness by the Government of Argentina in
an ICSID arbitration and by several foreign companies in contract disputes involving
Argentine laws issues in litigations conducted in Austria, Brazil, Spain and the USA and in
international arbitrations. Also acted (and continues acting) as lead counsel in major and
complex domestic litigations, which included litigations with the Argentine Security
Exchange Commission (Comisión Nacional de Valores) and the Antitrust Agency (Comisión
Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia).
Dr. Rovira coordinated the group of Argentine lawyers providing support to foreign
counsels concerning Argentine legal aspects of the defense of a major insurance company
in litigation proceedings in New York and London involving political risk insurance claims
after the Argentine 2001 crisis.
After leaving Brons & Salas he founded this boutique firm focusing in the high-quality
legal service with a flexible organization, focusing on the needs of clients, minimizing
fixed costs and offering high-quality legal service at reasonable costs to its clients, other
law firms and/or internal legal departments of companies and family businesses.
PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Rovira is the author of “Pactos de Socios” (Shareholders’ Agreements), Astrea
Publishing House, Buenos Aires, 2006; “Sociedades Extranjeras” (Foreign Companies),
Abeledo Perrot, Buenos Aires, 1985 and co-authored “Cuadernos de Derecho Societario”
(Argentine Corporate Law, 4 Vols.), Buenos Aires, 1973-1988.
Additionally, he is the author of the Chapter “Abusiva utilización de las formas y
mecanismos societarios como fundamento para declarar su ilegitimidad” (Excessive use
of corporate structures and mechanisms as grounds for declaring their illegitimacy) in
Temas de Derecho Comercial Moderno (Subjects of Modern Commercial Law), Depalma
Publishing House, Buenos Aires, 1998; “Attachment of Assets", Argentina Chapter, Juris
Publishing House, New York, U.S.A.,1999; and Chapter “La remuneración de los
directores” (Directors´ Remuneration) in “Estudios sobre el Directorio de la Sociedad
Anónima” (Discussion about the Board of Directors of a Corporation), Ad-Hoc Publishing
House, Buenos Aires, 1999. “Enforcement of Money Judgments Abroad”, Chapter I
“Argentina”, Matthew Bender, U.S.A., 1988; “Bank Security and Other Credit
Enhancement Methods”, Chapter I: Argentina, Kluwer Law International, The Hague-
London-Boston, 1995. He was the editor of “Doing Business in Argentina”, published by
the American Bar Association, Section of International Law & Practice, U.S.A., 2000, and
the author of chapters “Foreign Investment and Transfer of Technology” and
“Intellectual Property Protection” of such book. He is the co-author of Chapter 13
“Argentina” in Collier International Business Insolvency Guide, Lexis Nexis Publishing
House, U.S.A., 2002; and of Security Interests under Argentine Law, Chapter I
“Argentina”, Kluwer Law International, London, U.K., 2002.
He was the editor of “Empresa en crisis” (Companies in Crisis) where he was also the
author of chapter “Responsabilidad por Insolvencia y Capital social” (Liability for
Insolvency and Corporate capital), Astrea Publishing House, Buenos Aires, 2005. He is the
author of the Chapter “La Empresa en la Concepción Moderna de los Contratos”
(Companies in Modern Contracts) in “Tratado de la Empresa” (Treatise on Companies),
Vol. II, Ana Piaggi, editor, Ed. Abeledo Perrot, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010. He is the
autor of the Chapters on “Derecho de Información” (Shareholders´Information Rights), in
“Tratado de los Conflictos Societarios” (Treatise on Corporate Conflicts), Vol. II, Diego
Duprat, editor, Ed. Abeledo Perrot, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013.
Dr. Rovira has authored numerous papers in the areas of his expertise (business laws in
general, corporate law, antitrust, contract laws, insolvency and reorganizations) in
various specialized publications and legal magazines in Argentina and abroad.
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