Zuber & Taillieu

Patrick Del Duca, selected for inclusion in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions of THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA®, assists businesses and individuals with corporate, commercial and financial challenges.  He is experienced in the launch, maturation and exit of businesses, infrastructure development and financing, financial restructuring, and environmental matters.  Trained in common and civil law, he has worked domestically and widely across borders, especially in Europe and Latin America.

Mr. Del Duca is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and serves as Co-Chair of the Mexico Committee of the American Bar Association’s International Law Section, this year recognized with the award for “most improved committee”. The Mexico Committee’s published newsletters can be read here.  Mr. Del Duca serves as an adjunct professor at UCLA Law School.  Currently offering a course in International Finance, he has also taught courses in European Union Law, Joint Ventures, Latin American Infrastructure Development, and International Arbitration.  Mr. Del Duca recently authored the book CHOOSING THE LANGUAGE OF TRANSNATIONAL DEALS: PRACTICALITIES, POLICY AND LAW REFORM, published by the American Bar Association, an excerpt of which can be read here and a review of which can be read here.

Before joining Zuber & Taillieu, Mr. Del Duca was a Partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, and Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP.  He began his career clerking for Judge Alfred T. Goodwin of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonio La Pergola of Italy’s Corte Costituzionale.

Notable Representations

• Infrastructure Development and Finance: Development, financing, purchase and sale of energy (e.g. power plants, ethanol production), telecommunications, transportation (e.g. pipelines, ports, rail projects, toll roads) and other infrastructure projects;
• Financial Restructuring: Representing bondholder and other financial creditors, with a particular emphasis on emerging markets, e.g., in the restructuring of two Latin American telecommunications companies, with NYSE-listed securities;
• Launching Businesses: Launch of technology businesses concerning telecommunications technology, secure data storage and transmission, application service provision in varied industry sectors, internet music distribution, green energy technology, and biotechnology, often with international participation, plus exits, e.g. a successful major Italian biotechnology exit; and
• Environmental Law: Environmental contracting, counseling, defense, permitting and rulemaking in various industries.

Professional Honors and Activities

• Selectee, 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions of THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA^®, in International Trade and Finance Law
• ABA Section of International Law, Co-Chair, Mexico Committee, Liaison to Consiglio Nazionale Forense, and Steering Group Member, Europe Committee

Representative Publications

• CHOOSING THE LANGUAGE OF TRANSNATIONAL DEALS: PRACTICALITIES, POLICY AND LAW REFORM (American Bar Association, 2010), reviewed by J. Prendergast, 43 UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE LAW JOURNAL 33 (2011)
• To Create a Lien Priority: UCC Notice-Filing vs. Civil Law Notary Public Writing, 44 UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE LAW JOURNAL 33 (2011)
• Management of Environmental Liabilities in Business Transactions, 41 THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER, NEWS & ANALYSIS 10419 (May 2011)
• The rule of law and the contributions of lawyers to deepening Latin American financial markets, SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (symposium issue forthcoming 2011, 2021: International Law Ten Years from Now)
• Governo e forme di finanziamento delle aree metropolitane negli Stati Uniti. Una guida per la navigazione in CITTÁ A CONFRONTO: LE INSTITUZIONI METROPOLITANE NEI PAESI OCCIDENTALI (Giuseppe Franco Ferrari and Pierciro Galeone, eds.) 37 (Societá editrice il Mulino, Collana dell’Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani 2011)
• When Language and Law Intertwine, LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL (June 18, 2010)
• with L. Del Duca and G. Gentili, Introduction to the IALS Conference on Comparative Constitutional Law, 28 PENN STATE INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW VOLUME 28, NUMBER 3 (Winter 2010)
• co-editor with L. Del Duca, Judicial Highlights, UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE LAW JOURNAL
• co-author of updates on Brazil legal developments in various 2007-2012 issues of LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA NEWSLETTER, American Bar Association Section of International Law, including Outsourcing: Hearing Convened by Brazil’s Superior Labor Court, Judicial Reassessment of Term of Liability for Unemployment Insurance Contributions, Brazil’s New Form of Corporate Entity, Court Upholds Personal Liability of Managing Director for Corporate Tax Obligations of Improperly Liquidated Company, Brazil’s National Policy on solid wastes, Brazil’s updated list of tax havens, Major Brazilian enterprises, even if not organized as a sociedade anônima, must publish their financial statements in both Official Gazettes and major newspapers, Brazil’s update and expansion of disclosure requirements for issuers of securities to the public, New Application of Tax on Depositary Receipts Traded outside Brazil, New Writ of Mandamus Law, Law no. 11,962 Extends Labor Benefits for All Brazilian Employees Abroad, Brazil’s High Court of Labor Disregards Corporate Entity, Brazil’s Experiences Its First Insider Trader Prosecution, Securities Commission Guidance on Fiduciary Duties of Administrators, New Regime for Call Centers of Regulated Enterprises, Brazil’s Recent Progress to Implement International Accounting and Financial Standards, Prospective Legislative Reform to Improve Position of Non-Controlling Shareholders, Recent Improvements to Brazil’s Antitrust Enforcement Mechanisms, Corporate Governance and International Accounting Standards, and 2007: The National Year of Clean Development for Brazil
• with L. Del Duca, An Italian Federalism? – the State, its institutions and national culture as rule of law guarantor, 54 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW 799 (2006)
• with A. Feld and C. Vallejo, US Capital market debt meets emerging market collateral, in LAW OF INTERNATIONAL INSOLVENCIES AND DEBT RESTRUCTURING (Oceana/Oxford U. Press, 2006)
• The rule of law: Mexico’s approach to expropriation disputes in the face of investment globalization, 51 UCLA LAW REVIEW 35 (2003)
• with L. Del Duca, Selected Topics under the Convention on International Sale of Goods (CISG), 106 DICKINSON LAW REVIEW 205 (2001)
• with D. Mortillaro, The Maturation of Italy’s Response to European Community Law: Electric and Telecommunications Sector Institutional Innovations, 23 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 536 (2000)
• with R. Zamora, Mexico’s Secured Lending Reforms, 33 UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE LAW JOURNAL 225 (2000)

Representative Speaking Engagements

• Moderator, Cross-border Secured Lending: Challenges of structuring the collateral package, SPRING MEETING ABA SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, New York, April 19, 2012
• Speaker, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Global Initiatives Council, September 21, 2011
• Moderator, Secured lending and lien registry systems: best practices in the Americas and Europe, SRING MEETING ABA SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, Washington, DC, April 7, 2011
• Speaker, 2021: International Law Ten Years from now – International Financial Law and Institutions, Southwestern Law School, February 26, 2011
• Environmental Liabilities in Business Transactions, Environmental Law Institute Western Boot Camp on Environmental Law, January 27, 2011
• A Map for the Navigation of Metropolitan Governance and Finance in the United States, REGIMI E FORME DI FINANZIAMENTO DELLE AREE METROPOLITANE NEL DIRITTO COMPARATO, Rome, February 5, 2010
• Moderator, U.S. – Mexico’s Introduction of Adversarial Criminal Procedure: A Judicial Earthquake Propelled by Constitutional Amendment, FALL MEETING ABA SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, Miami Beach, October 29, 2009
• Moderator, U.S. – Mexico Commercial Arbitration and ADR, SPRING MEETING ABA SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, Washington, DC, April 16, 2009
• National Reporter, National Unification in Federal States – Italy, INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF COMPARATIVE LAW’S CONGRESS ON THE UNIFICATION OF LAW (La incidencia del derecho uniforme en el derecho nacional: Limites y Posibilidades), Mexico City, November 13-15, 2008
• Challenges in Implementing the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions – Importance of Secured Transactions Reform, UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE INSTITUTE, April 18, 2008, Washington, DC
• Aspectos Legales y Manejamiento del Riesgo, Curso de Primeros Empresarios, PACE Business Development Center, Boyle Heights, February 27, 2008