This article was published in The Latin American Lawyer.

ECIJA has added a partner to its technology practice in its San Salvador office.

The incorporation of partner Karla Alas (pictured) strengthens the Spanish firm’s technology practice in the Central American country, and which the firm describes as “a key department,” bringing the number of partners in El Salvador to five, and who are backed by a team of nine lawyers.

“All of the team have the experience and academic skills to ensure that their clients receive services that provide real added value,” the law firm said in a statement.

Alas has more than 24 years of professional experience in the areas of intellectual property, registration law, litigation, civil and corporate law, mediation, consumer law and customs procedures.

She also provides legal support in conciliation and mediation processes, and for the last five years has specialised in digital law.

She is currently a professor at ISEADE-FEPADE, in the postgraduate course of law and new technologies, and also gives courses on e-commerce, home working and personal data protection. She is also a lecturer on digital law, specifically on the subject of cyber crime and cyber security.

In addition, she is a member of Legal Hackers, a global movement of lawyers, politicians, designers, technologists and academics who explore and develop creative solutions to some of the most pressing problems at the intersection of law and technology.

“It is a source of great satisfaction to be integrating to our firm a professional with Karla’s profile,” Alfredo Navas Duarte, managing partner of ECIJA’s office in El Salvador, said. “The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world and our country was no exception, our firm has been congruent with reality and since two years ago we started to introduce information technology issues to our clients, colleagues and other professionals, and time has proved us to be right, digital media has come to stay.”

“Karla’s knowledge and experience in specific cases regarding cyber security, data protection, and cyber crime, among others, will further increase the added value we have always sought in the services we provide to our clients,” he said.

The new hire is part of ECIJA’s growth in Latin America, having promoted two partners in Puerto Rico in July, and having opened offices in Brazil and Ecuador in June. And in March, the firm’s Mexico City office added a human rights practice.