Foley & Lardner LLP has ramped up its cross-border offerings in Miami with the addition of two new partners who came aboard from Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP after having separately led Latin American practices at that firm and Ernst & Young, Foley announced Monday.

Ruben Diaz Jr., who previously to his time at Hughes Hubbard served as the head of Latin American legal services at Ernst & Young, joined Foley's transaction practice group while Federico Goudie, who was the co-chair of Hughes Hubbard's Latin America practice group, was tapped for Foley's finance practice. The duo has decades of combined experience in advising companies operating in Latin America in a variety of corporate and transactional matters, the firm said.

"We have known and respected their lawyers for a long time," Diaz said about choosing Foley, in an interview with Law360 Pulse on Monday. "Just because it was our first day, we had an office lunch, and I was struck by how at that office lunch, there were so many people with whom our paths had crossed in a good way, in a way that we respected and liked. It's always all about the people, so it's good to work with people that [make] you feel [good] about walking into the office every day,"

Goudie agreed that Foley had talented lawyers and said their clients sometimes needed a broader scope of services, which Foley could provide.

"Sometimes that doesn't come just in terms of practice area, but also in geography. Also, the established presence in Miami is very important because it's a city that we see ever expanding. We have more and more firms coming to town, and I think it's becoming a pretty dynamic, pretty exciting practice," Goudie said in an interview with Law360 Pulse on Monday.

Steven Vazquez, chair of the firm's business law department, said in a statement, "Foley's corporate team is continually finding new paths for strategic growth."

"Ruben and Federico are well-regarded domestically and internationally for their work on complex corporate matters and add invaluable Latin America cross-border corporate experience to the firm's already dynamic transactional and disputes service offerings in the region," Vazquez added. "We are thrilled to welcome them to the firm."

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