The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management - 2nd Edition

Sergio Galvis is a leading corporate lawyer in the United States who is known for his cross-border work, especially in Latin America. He joined Sullivan & Cromwell after graduating from Harvard Law School and clerking for the Hon. Lawrence W. Pierce, Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and has been a partner of the Firm since 1991. He is a member of S&Cʼs Management Committee, oversees the Firm’s recruiting and administrative functions and leads its Latin America practice.

Sergio has worked with clients across more than 25 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas on hundreds of significant matters in a broad range of practices, including crisis management, criminal defense and investigations, workouts and restructurings, corporate governance, sovereign financing, capital markets, M&A and project financing. He also regularly works on OFAC compliance and sanctions issues, especially as they relate to in Latin America situations.

Robert J Giuffra, Jr is recognised as one of the leading litigators in the US. He is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP’s management committee, responsible for the litigation practice.

A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Mr Giuffra has represented Fortune 500 companies in some of the highest-stakes litigations and investigations of the past two decades, including those arising from the financial crisis, Enron bankruptcy and HealthSouth accounting fraud. He is currently US national coordinating counsel for Volkswagen in diesel emissions litigations and investigations and helped secure landmark US regulatory and consumer settlements. He also represents Fiat Chrysler in US litigation and investigations over diesel emissions. He has represented leading Latin American companies, including Tenaris in securing the first SEC deferred prosecution agreement and Grupo Mexico in Delaware derivative litigation. He has won precedent-setting US court decisions, including limiting the extraterritorial application of US securities laws.

A graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School, Mr Giuffra clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the US Supreme Court and for Judge Ralph Winter of the Second Circuit. As Chief Counsel of the US Senate Banking Committee, he was a principal drafter of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

Werner Federico Ahlers is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s General Practice Group whose practice focuses on a wide range of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity transactions and corporate matters. Werner advises on a variety of corporate, project and restructuring financing matters, and in the areas of corporate governance and crisis management. He is a core member of the Firm’s Latin America practice, and regularly acts on equity and debt investments for strategic investors based in and outside the region, private equity, pension and sovereign wealth funds, and bank and multi-lateral agency lenders. His practice spans diverse sectors, including mining and metals, power and energy, real estate, infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare and financial services.

Werner has been repeatedly recognized for his cross-border advisory work by leading legal publications, such as Chambers (Global and Latin America), Latin Lawyer, Law360, The M&A Advisor, The American Lawyer and The Legal 500 (Latin America and US). Werner serves on the Executive Sub-Committee and as chair of the Latin America Sub-Committee of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice and as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a native speaker of Spanish and is proficient in Portuguese.