Criminal law, also known as penal law, involves prosecution by the government of a person for an act that has been classified as a crime. Freedom has its limits and the most absolute is criminal law. A "crime" is any act or omission (of an act) in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding it, punishable with loss of personal freedom. Among the areas of crime that fall under the Costa Rican criminal law statutes: White Collar Crime; Bribery; Counterfeiting / Forgery; Embezzlement; Fraud; Insurance Fraud; Government Fraud; Murder / Homicide; Restrictive Business Practices; Tax Evasion; Violent Crime; Theft / Property Crime; Drug Crime; and starting December 2008, DUI (driving under the influence). Plea bargaining, evidence, trials, sentencing, appeals, and arrest, search and seizure law demand attention vis-a-vis the clients' Constitutional rights. As trial attorneys, we have provided aggressive representation, both for defense and for private prosecution in high-profile criminal law cases.

Extradition involves the surrender of a person by a state (such as Costa Rica) to another state or, in some cases, to an international organization, to allow for trial of that person by the receiving state or organization. A very complex interplay between criminal law, statute law and international law takes place in any extradition proceeding. For a citizen habituated to, and confident in the laws of their native or adopted land, especially one as free and democratic as Costa Rica, extradition can be a terrifying prospect. We have handled this area of our practice with remarkable success throughout the years.

As both Attorneys and Notaries Public, we can protect your interests setting up your corporation and preparing your Business/Corporate Law Contracts as well as Labour Law and Employment contracts and - should the need arise - we can help you with civil litigation and arbitration.

In Costa Rica, as in other Latin American countries, Civil law has been adopted to regulate and settle differences between individuals or corporations.

In civil law countries, positive (i.e., written) legislation is seen as the main source of law. Civil law courts thus base their judgments on the provisions of written law, from which solutions in particular cases are to be derived. Courts therefore have to reason extensively on the basis of general rules and principles of the code, and secondarily, from previous judicial opinions.By contrast, in the Common law system, which is the legal system developed among Anglophone countries, case law is the main source of law, while statutes are often seen as merely supplemental to precedents (judicial opinions).

Our Civil law experts have aided clients seeking financial justice and injunctions; defended their private property; enabled corporations to stay aloft when threatened by insolvency; represented clients in probate proceedings; and successfully argued and arbitrated before civil courts and panels.