Big Law in Latin America and Spain:

Globalization and Adjustments in the

Provision of High-End Legal Services
1st Edition Manuel Gómez
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 Edited by
Manuel Gómez & Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo

BIG LAW
IN LATIN AMERICA & SPAIN
Globalization and adjustments in the provision
of high-end legal services
Big Law in Latin America and Spain
Manuel Gómez • Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo
Editors

Big Law in Latin

America and Spain
Globalization and Adjustments in the Provision of
High-End Legal Services
Editors
Manuel Gómez Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo
Florida International University Universidad Metropolitana
Miami, Florida, USA Caracas, Venezuela

ISBN 978-3-319-65402-7    ISBN 978-3-319-65403-4 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65403-4

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 Acknowledgments

The research that forms the basis of this book could not have been con-
ducted without the cooperation of the many lawyers and other legal pro-
fessionals, business people, corporate officers, government officials,
scholars, and other individuals interviewed for the different the chapters.
In order to encourage candor and respect the professional careers of those
involved and their organizations, we agreed to keep the identity of our
interviewees confidential, except when they agreed to be identified. We
gratefully acknowledge their willingness to give of their time and to share
their knowledge, experience, and perspectives.
The collaborative effort that produced this book was initiated by an
international conference sponsored by Stanford Law School in 2014
through its Center for the Legal Profession, and a generous gift from Sidley
Austin LLP. We gratefully acknowledge the support of all those who con-
tributed to the discussion, and those who provided feedback and valuable
comments during presentations at the Annual meetings of the Law and
Society Association in Minneapolis (2014), Seattle (2015), New Orleans
(2016), and Mexico City (2017). We especially thank Deborah R. Hensler
for her invitation to participate in the Stanford Project on the Future of the
Legal Profession, and for her continued support. All of the authors grate-
fully acknowledge the support of their home institutions for their research
and writing and for enabling the group to convene in various parts of the
world to share their findings. The co-editors would like also to thank
Marisol Floren-Romero at Florida International University College of Law
for her valuable research assistance throughout the p ­ roject, and to Marcus
Nielsen for his help during the final stages of the editorial process.

v
 Contents

Part I Introduction   1

1 Corporate Lawyers and Multinational Corporations

in Latin America and Spain: 1990–2015   3
Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo

Part II Big Law in Latin America and Spain  25

2 Law Firms in Argentina: Challenges and Responses

to a Crisis  27
Maria Inés Bergoglio

3 Big Law in Brazil: Rise and Current Challenges  63

Mariana Conti Craveiro and Manuel Gómez

4 Big Law in Chile: A Glance at the Law Firms  83

Iñigo de la Maza Gazmuri, Rafael Mery Nieto, and Juan
Enrique Vargas Viancos

vii
viii CONTENTS

5 Big Law in Central America, Panama and the Dominican

Republic: Growth Strategies in Small Economies 123
Carlos Taboada and Manuel Gómez

6 The Rise of Big Law in Colombia 155

Everaldo Lamprea and Mariana Díaz Chalela

7 Global and Traditional: A Profile of Corporate Lawyers

in Mexico 177
Rodrigo Meneses-Reyes and José Antonio Caballero

8 Lawyers and Globalization in Peru (1990–2014):

Challenges in the Shadows 197
Gorki Gonzales Mantilla

9 Big Law in Spain: A Dynamic Ecosystem 241

Marisa Méndez Sordo

10 Big Law in Venezuela: From Globalization to Revolution 287

Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo

Part III The Bigger Picture 321

11 Reconstructing Big Law: The Big Picture 323

Deborah R. Hensler

12 Big Law Today and Tomorrow 331

Lawrence M. Friedman
 CONTENTS
   ix

Part IV Looking Ahead 341

13 Conclusion 343
Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo

Index 349
 List of Figures

Chart 4.1 New Lawyers (1960–2013) 88

Chart 4.2 Evolution of the main Chilean law firms 91
Chart 6.1 Ratio of lawyers per 100,000 inhabitants 161
Chart 7.1 Areas of specialization of law firms in Mexico (2014) 189
Graph 9.1 Evolution of turnover and numbers of lawyers. Top 20 2013 252
Graph 9.2 Total revenues of top 20 law firms (2013) according to
founding year 253
Graph 9.3 Increase in the number of lawyers at the 20 largest firms
1997–2013269
Graph 9.4 Growth rates of the legal sector 1997–2013 272

xi
 List of Tables

Table 1.1 Number of lawyers (estimate) in five Latin American

countries and Spain (1990–2015) 8
Table 1.2 Business law firms in seven Latin American countries by
size (1999–2015) 15
Table 1.3 Ten largest business law firms in seven Latin American
countries by size 16
Table 1.4 International law firms with most presence in six Latin
American countries (1999–2015) 18
Table 2.1 Large law firms in Latin America 34
Table 2.2 Firms’ structure in 2006 and 2014 39
Table 2.3 Types of university in different periods 42
Table 2.4 Postgraduate studies by position in the firm and period 43
Table 2.5 Gender composition of large firms 49
Table 2.6 Associate/partner rate, 2006–2011 50
Table 2.7 List of law firms included in the research 53
Table 2.8 Law graduates from Argentine universities, 2002–2011 54
Table 3.1 Brazilian law firms by area of specialization (2015) 76
Table 4.1 Firms accor­ding to the number of lawyers 93
Table 4.2 Lawyers according to the category in the firm 94
Table 4.3 Professions in the law firms 98
Table 4.4 Second language mastered by lawyers 100
Table 4.5 Language of the websites 101
Table 4.6 Lawyers according to gender 103
Table 4.7 Lawyers according to the country where they completed
their undergraduate studies 103
Table 4.8 Lawyers according to universities where they completed
their undergraduate studies 104

xiii
xiv LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.9 Lawyers with postgraduate studies 105

Table 4.10 Countries where lawyers completed their Master’s degree 105
Table 4.11 Main universities where lawyers completed their Master’s
degree106
Table 5.1 Largest Costa Rican law firms by number of lawyers
(2000–2015)131
Table 5.2 Costa Rican law firm members with foreign graduate
studies and foreign language skills as reported in 2000,
2005 and 2010 131
Table 5.3 Largest law firms of El Salvador by size (2000–2015) 135
Table 5.4 El Salvador law firm members with foreign graduate
studies and foreign language skills as reported in 2000,
2005 and 2010 135
Table 5.5 Largest law firms of Guatemala by number of lawyers
(2000–2015)138
Table 5.6 Guatemala law firm members with foreign graduate
studies and foreign language skills as reported in 2000,
2005 and 2010 139
Table 5.7 Honduras largest law firms by size (2000–2015) 140
Table 5.8 Honduras law firm members with foreign graduate
studies and foreign language skills (2000, 2005 and 2010) 141
Table 5.9 Nicaraguan law firms by size (2000–2015) 142
Table 5.10 Nicaragua law firm members with foreign graduate
studies and foreign language skills as reported in 2000,
2005 and 2010 143
Table 5.11 Panamanian law firms by size (2000–2015) 146
Table 5.12 Panamanian lawyers by foreign language skills and
graduate studies (2000–2010) 147
Table 5.13 Ranked Panamanian law firms (2015) 148
Table 5.14 Dominican Republic law firms by size (2000–2015) 149
Table 5.15 Dominican lawyers by foreign language skills and
graduate studies (2000–2010) 149
Table 6.1 Number of employees: Associates and Partners (2017) 164
Table 6.2 Number of areas of practice for top eight Colombian
law firms (2017) 164
Table 6.3 Top eight Colombian law firms by revenue (2017) 166
Table 6.4 Big Lawyers and LL.M. graduates from top ten law
schools (2017) 171
Table 7.1 A decade of change in the legal profession in Mexico
(2004–2014)182
Table 8.1 Peruvian GDP growth rate between 2000 and 2010 207
Table 8.2 Lawyers by department in 2015 210
Table 8.3 Peru’s largest law firms 213
 LIST OF TABLES
   xv

Table 8.4 Segmentation of the legal profession by fields

(number of lawyers) 219
Table 8.5 Main fields of practice of four leading law firms 221
Table 8.6 Perception of the profitability fields 222
Table 8.7 Firm’s composition 224
Table 8.8 Corporate structures of law firms 225
Table 9.1 Top 20 Spanish law firms by revenue (2013) 250
Table 9.2 Growth trends of the 2013 top 20 law firms—number
of lawyers 251
Table 9.3 Number of lawyers in law firms 1987–1997 261
Table 10.1 Law graduates in Venezuela from 1950 to 2015 291
Table 10.2 Ups and downs of Venezuelan law firms (1990–2015) 300
 PART I

Introduction
 CHAPTER 1

Corporate Lawyers and Multinational

Corporations in Latin America and Spain:
1990–2015

Manuel Gómez and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo

This book explains the changes that have occurred in the provision of
high-end corporate legal services in 15 Latin American countries and
Spain between 1990 and 2015. We use the term high end to denote
sophisticated, complex, and generally costly legal work demanded by mul-
tinationals, large domestic corporations, and other business clients. This
type of work is usually performed by teams of prestigious lawyers and
other professionals through large or mid-sized multiservice or highly spe-
cialized firms with more than one office and an internal organizational
hierarchy. Other lawyers offer their professional services through small and
highly specialized (boutique) law firms. These lawyers and the law firms to
which they belong are the main providers of legal services in the corporate
world and are precisely the focus of this collective work.
The modern infrastructure, visibility and corporate image, organiza-
tional arrangement, and client management strategies employed by these

M. Gómez (*)
Florida International University College of Law, Miami, FL, USA
R. Pérez-Perdomo
Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas, Venezuela

© The Author(s) 2018 3

M. Gómez, R. Pérez-Perdomo (eds.), Big Law in Latin America
and Spain, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65403-4_1
4 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

Latin American law firms resemble the so-called “Big Law” of the United
States. As a result, this book uses the term “Big Law” to also refer to the
Latin American firms that share those same features. The chapters that
comprise this volume address the evolution and recent changes affecting
the corporate legal sector providers in the selected countries, taking into
account their specific social, political, and economic context.
The research presented here is drawn from a combination of interview and
quantitative data, historical records, and other sources, which enabled the
authors to paint a dense and contextualized sketch of the corporate legal
services sector, and more generally about the legal profession of each country.
This book covers the majority of countries in Latin America. It includes stud-
ies about countries ranging from the main economies like Brazil and Mexico
to smaller ones like Nicaragua. This book also includes a chapter on Spain,
given the strong historical, economic and political ties between Latin America
and Spain, and the recent expansion of Spanish law firms into Latin America.
This book pays special attention to the heightened interaction between
Spanish and Latin American enterprises and their lawyers during recent times.
The time span covered in this book (1990–2015) has been a period of
intensification of cross-border trade, migratory movements, the rise of dif-
ferent forms of communication, and other technological advancements.
These are also times of important social, political, and cultural transforma-
tions, not only in the Americas and Spain but also globally. On the other
hand, during these years, the world has faced unique challenges regard-
ing threats to the protection of human rights, the legitimacy of democratic
institutions, the preservation of the environment, and the attainment of
equality, peace, and security.
Concern for these issues is not confined to the geographical boundaries of
a single country, but has rather crossed over to the regional and global arenas.
The term globalization is generally used to convey this phenomenon.
Globalization means diffusion, influence, and movement, but not always in
the physical sense. The dissemination and movement can also be of ideas,
images, thought processes, and patterns of behavior. In this sense, globaliza-
tion is undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon (Friedman 2001; Giddens 1999).
Whether directly or indirectly, globalization has had an impact on the
role of lawyers in society, and more generally on the function of law. Some
areas such as international trade and business law are more susceptible to
be affected by globalization than, say, tenant-landlord regulations. The
same occurs to the lawyers and other legal professionals who practice or
specialize in those areas. Legal professionals who handle cross-border
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 5

transactions or working for multinational corporate clients tend to be

more familiar with foreign and international laws, practices, and global
trends, than those representing juvenile offenders in local courts. However,
the world is not neatly divided between globalized and non-globalized
law, or between fully globalized and fully domestic lawyers. What occurs
in reality is that both the international/globalized and the domestic/local
dimensions of the law are generally intertwined, or, at the very least, exist
and operate in parallel. Friedman (2001) has used the term “legal diglos-
sia” to identify this phenomenon, which seems to be common in the high-­
end corporate legal sector of most Latin American countries and Spain,
and demands practitioners with both local and international competence.
The bulk of the official law enacted by the national legislatures has
remained domestic both in content and scope, and legal education contin-
ues to primarily train students to practice law in their own countries.
Notwithstanding, the law firms that provide services to multinational cor-
porate clients—which is the subset that occupies our attention—appear to
have become “boundaryless” regarding their organizational structures,
their relationship with their clients, and the type of services they offer.
Many of the law firms whose members were interviewed for this book
exemplify this trend.
The globalization of Latin American and Spanish business lawyers
should come as no surprise if one takes into account the fact that their
clientele is comprised mainly of large corporations, national, foreign, or
multinational. The way in which these lawyers organize their practices,
carry out their activities, and business relationships is consistent with a
rapidly expanding transnational reality. As a result, the lawyers that serve
such clients are obviously pressured to meet the increasingly complex
demands of the market, and to align or synchronize their structure with
that of their clients. At the same time, those lawyers are expected to stay
attuned to their domestic legal landscape and the changes affecting their
own legal system.
The corporate legal sector of the United States is the most common and
certainly the best- documented reference of this phenomenon. After all, it
is where many of the multi-service, multi-office law firms originated, devel-
oped, and continue to exist. The fact that the United States is the bench-
mark should come as no surprise because many of the important players in
the business world, who demand the services of the a­ forementioned law-
yers, are also American corporations with a worldwide presence.
6 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

As mentioned earlier, the term Big Law was precisely coined to identify
the American firms that fit this bill, and more generally the stratum where
they operate. Needless to say, Big Law does not mean that the type of law
practiced by their members is bigger or more important than the law han-
dled by solo practitioners that represent the rest of us mortals. In this
sense, there is no substantive difference between small law and Big Law.
There are instead different work styles, client management strategies,
organizational arrangements, and levels of expertise and experience needed
from the lawyers and other professionals, depending on the complexity of
the relevant legal issues, the parties involved, and the financial stake.
More than 30 years ago, Galanter (1983) aptly called mega-lawyering
the occupation of the legal professionals operating in complex, transna-
tional, and high-stake environments. What appears to have occurred since
then, though, is that mega-lawyering is not confined anymore to
large high-end corporate law firms, but has also permeated—to varying
degrees—the realm of NGOs, in-house legal departments, and other
organizations. For this book, we undertook the task to investigate the
lawyers whose services are demanded by large and mid-size corporate cli-
ents in the selected countries or transnationally. We were particularly inter-
ested in learning how those lawyers are organized, and how the
development of the business sector, and, more broadly, how the social,
economic, and political conditions of each country has influenced them.
One cannot accurately ascertain the role of Big Law in Latin America
and Spain without looking at the legal profession as a whole and the
changes that have resulted from globalization. In the remainder of this
introductory chapter, as a way to prepare the context for the rest of the
book, we briefly discuss the growth and transformation of the legal profes-
sion in Latin America and Spain. We then turn to analyze the rise and
transformation of the corporate law firms in the region, and finally, we
discuss the internationalization—or globalization—of business lawyering
as a roadmap for the rest of the book.

Legal Profession: Growth and Diversification

One of the main difficulties posed to anyone undertaking a comparative
study of the legal profession is to ascertain the criteria used by each coun-
try to determine who is a lawyer and who is not. Clarifying this concept is
crucial for understanding the landscape of the legal profession, its struc-
ture, internal dynamics, the different occupations of legal professionals,
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 7

and the role of lawyers in society. Fortunately, in the countries represented

in this book, the meaning of “lawyer” is basically the same: a person
authorized to give consultations and appear in court (i.e. practice law)
upon the award of a professional degree by an academic institution.
Whether that person actually practices law or not is a different question,
and it does not affect their lawyer title. In all the countries represented in
this study, the conferral of a law degree is the result of the successful cul-
mination of several years of formal studies at the undergraduate level in a
law school. Most law schools are integrated into universities, which sub-
jects them to many rules and standards usually set by the Ministry of
Education or an equivalent government agency.
In most Latin American countries and Spain, the completion of a stan-
dard law school curriculum is sufficient to graduate and obtain the quali-
fication to practice law. The two notable exceptions are Brazil and Spain.
In the case of Brazil, aspiring lawyers are required to take a special qualifi-
cation exam administered by the Order of Attorneys (Ordem dos Advogados)
as a prerequisite to obtain the license to practice law. In Spain, special
legislation that entered into force in 2011 requires law graduates to take
additional professional skills courses, do practical training, and pass a writ-
ten examination supervised by the Ministry of Justice. The purpose of
these additional requirements, some of which are common in many
European countries and the United States, is to ensure that those entering
the legal profession meet some minimum standards of quality and
experience.
Despite the formal entry barriers to the legal profession, one clear trend
in Latin America and Spain has been the accelerated growth in the number
of lawyers, at a much higher rate than in the rest of Europe and the United
States, although the baseline considered by scholars in determining the
latter was higher (Galanter 2011). It is important to note that in Latin
America and Spain, the number of lawyers refers to people authorized to
practice law, and not necessarily to those actually practicing it. The hypoth-
esis is that the latter number is much smaller given that legal studies are
usually offered at the undergraduate level, and their content is general
enough which many law graduates regard as a basic foundation for several
professional occupations, careers, or employment, not necessarily directly
related to the practice of law.
Table 1.1 contains the most recently available data regarding the number
of lawyers in five Latin America and Spain between 1990 and 2014, with
some important caveats. The first one has to do with the lack of uniformity
8 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

Table 1.1 Number of lawyers (estimate) in five Latin American countries and
Spain (1990–2015)
Country 1990 2000 2014–2015

Brazil 148,875 N/A 839,758

Chile 9308 11,400 40,000
Colombia N/A 112,000 225,000
Spain 55,076 98,922 249,694
Mexico 141,538 200,000 321,000
Venezuela 31,350 66,383 181,367

Sources: Data for 1990 and 2000: Pérez-Perdomo (2006: 110, 2006b: 14). Data for 2003–2004: CEJA
(2005). Brasil 2014: Gómez and Conti, this volume. Spain 1990: Toharia (2003); Spain 2000 and 2014:
Méndez, this volume. México 2014: Meneses and Caballero, this volume. Colombia 2013: Bosqué:
“Colombie/Un barreau en devenir”. La semaine juridique 39, 2013. Venezuela 2015: Gómez and Pérez
Perdomo, this volume

in the data collection procedures across countries and institutions. There are
no uniform or official criteria regarding the collection of information about
lawyers. In each country, the source may be different whereas in some coun-
tries, the data comes from a government agency in charge of compiling
statistics or official census data; in others, the data might be collected by a
university, bar association, or the welfare organization in charge of adminis-
tering the insurance that lawyers are required to take.
Such disparity may obviously hinder the possibility of doing a proper
comparison, which makes intra-country comparisons much easier to do
given that national data often follows the same criteria, methodology, and
are collected by the same institution. As a result, Table 1.1 might be more
useful to observe the changes that occurred within a particular country
than across several of them. We included countries for which two or more
numbers were available regarding our period of study.
Alongside a significant increase in the number of lawyers in the region,
the number of law schools also experienced an exponential growth dur-
ing the last decades. Unsurprisingly, the number of students enrolled in
their academic programs rose as well. Two dramatic examples of the
growth in the number of law schools are Brazil and Mexico, each with
more than 1000 law schools at the time of writing. The curricula, teach-
ing methods, educational materials, faculty, infrastructure, and overall
quality of the law schools within each country also vary greatly, which in
turn contributes to their placement in the—mostly unofficial—rankings
and reputation.
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 9

Historically, legal education across Latin America and Spain was very
similar. The curricula, which usually required around five years of formal
enrolment in a law school, contained the same list of courses—all manda-
tory—designed to provide a broad and general intellectual platform to the
future lawyers. History, philosophy, and political economy were usually
offered along with more traditional legal courses like criminal law, civil
law, and constitutional law. Courses on alternative dispute resolution and
human rights were nonexistent, partly because these fields had not fully
developed yet. Unlike in the United States where law students are taught
through the discussion of court cases, legal reasoning, and other lawyering
skills deemed necessary for their trade, the future lawyers of the Latin
countries were exposed to a general education and a systematic vision of
law.
To this end, the main course materials used in law school were hand-
books and commentaries written by the professors largely inspired by clas-
sical treatises of prominent French, Italian, German, and Spanish scholars
of the nineteenth century. Some courses incorporated more recent hand-
books authored by national authors—mostly the drafters of the relevant
legislation—whereby they analyzed the pertinent legal provisions or
underlying theories connected to the subject matter, but always keeping
their European forbearers present. Given the historical connection
between Latin America and Latin Europe, it was common for the law cur-
ricula of the former to devote attention to the study of European legisla-
tion such as the Code Napoléon of 1804, the Franco-Italian Draft Code
of Obligations, or the Spanish Penal Code of 1870. The use of cases was
limited, and the main pedagogical tool was the lecture (clase magistral, in
Spanish) by the professor and the memorization of concepts by the
students.
The recent years have witnessed important changes in the legal educa-
tion of Latin America and Spain. The convergence of several factors, includ-
ing an upsurge in the number of law schools, changes in the legal market,
and the influence of globalization have motivated their leadership to inno-
vate. The leading law schools in most countries have undertaken impor-
tant changes in their curricula. Courses on international trade, corporate
finance, human rights, environmental law, arbitration, mediation, and
negotiation have populated the offerings. Clinical legal education, moot
court competitions, exchange programs with foreign universities, and other
opportunities to foster oral advocacy skills, practical experience, and inter-
national and comparative law concepts have also been added to the academic
10 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

offerings. Furthermore, some law schools have added courses taught in

foreign languages to their programs and increasingly encourage their stu-
dents to become multidisciplinary by exposing them to other fields that
might overlap with law, mostly in the realm of science and technology
(Gómez 2014).
There has also been a change in the intellectual production of legal
scholars. Academic law journals and other scientific publications have pro-
liferated throughout the region, and the production of academic work has
increased as well (Pérez Perdomo 2014a, 2015). The type of research
being disseminated nowadays is not limited anymore to the interpretation
of legal texts and court cases, but also empirical research addressing the
relationship between law, culture and society, economics, and politics.
These changes are also a response to the competition that exists between
law schools and the job market for lawyers and the stratification of the
legal profession. The incredible variations that exist among law programs
in the region—and even within countries—rule out the idea that there is
just one type of legal education being offered in Latin America. The land-
scape is vast and very diverse.
Another important development of the last two decades has been the
flow of Latin American and Spanish lawyers toward foreign countries—
primarily the United States—to pursue postgraduate degrees in law in
order to acquire knowledge and sometimes even practical experience in
transnational legal fields. Some foreign lawyers go beyond obtaining an
academic degree and seek to become licensed to practice law in states like
New York, California, and Texas, whose rules allow foreign lawyers to join
the local legal profession. Conversely, United States’ law schools have
expanded their academic offerings to respond to the foreign demand,
which has also impacted the legal profession in the United States (Vides
et al. 2011).
The government and the corporate sector are currently the main
employers of lawyers in Latin America. This should come as no surprise
given that their activities generate all sorts of complex and mundane legal
work. In this sense, most public and private institutions are, according to
Galanter (1974), repeat players. Their frequent use of the legal system and
interaction with lawyers puts them in a different category from, say ordi-
nary citizens, who tend to use lawyers much less frequently if at all. For the
most part, the average person retains a lawyer only when there is an impor-
tant legal conflict in their lives that requires the intervention of an expert,
like in the case of a divorce, a criminal prosecution, or a civil lawsuit. These
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 11

events are exceptional occurrences, so is their interaction with lawyers.

Galanter (1974) used the term one shooter to refer to the occasional users
of the formal legal system.
The bigger an organization is, and the more resources it mobilizes, the
greater the likelihood that it will require the services of a lawyer. The size
and economic capacity of the client and the complexity of its activities also
determines the frequency with which lawyers are employed and the quali-
fications and skills demanded from those lawyers. In addition to being
repeat players, large multinational companies or government entities tend
to also have the financial capacity to assemble large legal teams and hire
specialized lawyers, sometimes in different parts of the world, depending
on their needs. In addition to being repeat players, Galanter (1974) would
also call them haves.
Lawyers have responded to the demand of these haves by creating mul-
tinational law firms and other similar arrangements, and by honing their
skills in areas of practice that match the activities of their clients. Law
firms, however, are not the only organizational forms through which law-
yers serve the business sector or the government. Another traditional
structure frequent in medium-sized to large companies, state agencies,
and other organizations is the legal department or in-house counsel. It
consists of a lawyer or a team of lawyers, and perhaps other professionals,
whose main activity is to advise and represent an organization in all of its
routine legal affairs. In-house counsel might frequently coordinate the
work of external lawyers, including setting their fees. They also serve as
information brokers between the company management and the outside
world.
As the name suggests, the in-house counsel is a unit within the com-
pany, in other words, a single-client lawyer (Van Houtte 1999; Liggio
1997). The size of the legal department varies depending on the need of
the organization they serve and other factors, and it may range from one
or a few members to hundreds of lawyers spread across multiple locations.
For example, when Pérez Perdomo (2001) studied the legal department
of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, it was the largest legal
service provider in the country, with more than 140 lawyers. At that time,
the largest law firm in the country, Baker & McKenzie did not even reach
the 100-lawyer mark.
If we look outward, in addition to large multiservice law firms, busi-
ness clients may also retain the services of much smaller but highly special-
ized law firms, which professionals are highly regarded because of their
12 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

reputation in that particular niche. These types of law firms are known as
boutiques to signify the exclusivity of their services, their ability to offer
personalized attention to their clients, and the commensurate high price
charged by their professionals. Boutique law firms have become impor-
tant players in the legal sectors of Latin America and Spain, and many of
them have resulted from the spinoff of a practice group or specialized
department at large multi-service law firms.
On the other end of the spectrum, we find the grand advocates (Galanter
and Robinson 2013), that is, influential and prestigious lawyers who are
highly regarded in a particular area of law. These grand advocates tend to
work independently with a small support team, their portfolio of clients is
very exclusive, and the matters they handle are usually of high importance.
These grand advocates are well regarded not only because of their technical
expertise but also because of their ability to navigate the legal system, and
more importantly because of their influence and political connections.
Criminal defense lawyers are perhaps the most common type of grand
advocates found in Latin America. More recently, the upsurge of constitu-
tional and human rights-related litigation has also seen the emergence of
grand advocates in those areas. Most corporate clients do not generate
sufficient criminal or constitutional matters that merit the hiring of a crim-
inal defense or a constitutional law specialist to join their legal department.
Even if they did, most grand advocates value their independence and
social and political capital and therefore have no incentive in being absorbed
by a large organization. This may help explain why multiservice law firms
do not have grand advocates among their members.
Despite the important contribution of the grand advocates, in-house
counsel, and boutique law firms to the development of the high-end cor-
porate legal sector in Latin America and Spain, the most visible players are
still the multiservice firms. We now turn our attention to these players,
which have gained visibility in handling significant commercial transac-
tions or complex legal matters usually on behalf of multinational corpora-
tions, government entities, and other similar clients.

The Growth of Multiservice Business Law Firms

Interestingly, most of the law firms that handle the bulk of foreign invest-
ment legal work and other important business matters are themselves mul-
tinational enterprises. The largest firms have thousands of lawyers and
offices in many parts of the world. As of now, Dentons is the largest law
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 13

firm globally in terms of size, with more than 7,300 lawyers. This astro-
nomical figure resulted from a recent merger involving a Singaporean firm
(Rodyk) and an Australian firm (Gadens). The second largest law firm in
the world is Baker & McKenzie with 4,245 lawyers, and the third place
goes for DLA Piper, which has 3,700 lawyers. Other forms of measuring
the size of these law firms are revenue and number of offices in different
countries (global expansion). Of the three law firms mentioned above,
Baker & McKenzie is the one with the largest presence in Latin America:
850 lawyers, 15 offices, and 7 countries. As we will see in this book, Baker
& McKenzie was also the first American law firm to establish an outpost
south of the border by opening an office in Caracas more than 60 years
ago (Gómez and Pérez Perdomo, in this volume; Bauman 1999).
The current Latin American landscape of foreign law firms has changed
dramatically during the last decades. Aside from United States-based firms
like White & Case, Skadden Arps, Jones Day, and Hughes Hubbard, Latin
America has seen the arrival of European firms like Spain’s Garrigues and
Uría Mendéndez, as well as Great Britain’s Clyde & Co. Although many
international or foreign firms are still identified by the country where they
were first established, or where their management is located, some of the
largest ones cannot be tied to a particular country anymore. The structure
adopted by these “global” firms often comprises complex layers of part-
nerships and other arrangements, under a decentralized leadership operat-
ing on behalf of a voluntary association such as a Swiss verein. Dentons,
Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright,
and Squire Patton Boggs, all with presence in Latin America, are some of
the most visible examples.
Because of local regulatory restrictions or other factors, some foreign
law firms do not have their own offices in Latin America, but rather a local
representative, “best friend” alliance, or mutual referral arrangement with
local lawyers. Others—usually the smaller foreign firms—are tied to their
Latin American and Spanish counterparts through professional networks
like Lex Mundi and Affinitas, or Latin America’s Bomchil Group.
Latin American lawyers have not taken the back seat in this situation.
On the contrary, the regional law firm market has also grown exponen-
tially, although in a different scale compared to the United States. Some
countries have witnessed the rise and consolidation of local law firms and
their expansion from small family-owned practices to large and strong
organizations with multiple offices, hundreds of lawyers, and the capacity
to compete with the largest global players in their own turf. Pinheiro Neto
14 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

and Mattos Filho from Brazil, Allende & Brea from Argentina, Ferrere
from Uruguay, Brigard & Urrutia and Posse Herrera Ruiz from Colombia,
and D’Empaire Reyna & Bermúdez from Venezuela are some examples.
In this book, we are both interested in the local actors and their foreign
counterparts. The central focus of our query are the mid-sized and large
Latin American and Spanish law firms and also the international firms with
a presence in Latin America and Spain. Our original intention was to sepa-
rately study the international firms established in Latin America and Spain
and the local firms. Notwithstanding, as soon as we began our research, we
realized that such distinction was not meaningful—the vast majority of law-
yers and other professionals employed by international firms are local.
Conversely, many of the domestic firms that exist throughout Latin America
and Spain have developed such strong international connections that make
them look like international firms. The initial revelation was that most busi-
ness law firms—regardless of their country of origin—are always interna-
tional. They maintain strong ties with lawyers from around the world,
much of their work is conducted in English and other languages, their cli-
ent management strategies and billing criteria are the same with local adap-
tations, and their professionals have both training and knowledge in the
legal systems and cultures of countries different from their own.
The size of the law firms is relative to the time and place. In the United
States, during the 1960s, a firm with 100 lawyers was considered large
(Smigel 1964; Galanter 1983). Currently, a large firm in the United States
has to have more than 1,000 lawyers, and a firm with 100 members is
regarded as medium-sized or small. There is also a correlation between the
size of a law firm, the degree of specialization of its members, and the
range of services offered to its clients. The larger firms count on multiple
specialists, who are often divided into departments or practice groups
across different locations. As a result, those law firms are able to offer mul-
tinational clients a panoply of services suited to their industry or specific
activity. They are, in other words, a one-stop shop when it comes to cor-
porate legal services.
The reality of the Latin American legal market is different from that of
the United States in some ways. The average size of a business law firm is
much smaller in Latin America, but their infrastructure, client manage-
ment strategies, and overall organization are often very similar to their US
counterparts. In most Latin American countries, a law firm of 100 lawyers
is considered large in terms of size. Moreover, some countries do not even
have law firms that reach that number, but the multinational clients still
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 15

deal with them as if they were Big Law. Table 1.2 shows the evolution—in
terms of size—of business law firms in seven Latin American countries
between 1999 and 2015.
As we can see, the number of law firms with more than 100 lawyers has
grown, although at a different pace across countries. The most dramatic
changes have occurred in Brazil and Venezuela. Whereas the former has
experienced the biggest growth, the number of firms in Venezuela has
increased only slightly. Another important change shown in Table 1.3 is
the growth in the average number of lawyers at the ten largest firms of the
same seven countries.
Whereas the data shows a general growth in the number of lawyers and
the size of business law firms, not all the changes occur for the same rea-
sons. A decrease in the number of firms, for example, may have resulted
from the fact that some law firms absorbed smaller ones or merged with

Table 1.2 Business law firms in seven Latin American countries by size
(1999–2015)
Country Number of lawyers 1999 2009 2015

Argentina 100+ 2 3 5
50–99 7 10 7
20–49 10 6 8
Brazil 100+ 4 15 20
50–99 4 11 23
20–49 10 9 15
Chile 100+ 0 1 2
50–99 1 4 7
20–49 7 7 9
Colombia 100+ 0 0 3
50–99 0 4 2
20–49 8 5 7
Mexico 100+ 1 2 3
50–99 2 10 9
20–49 7 14 18
Peru 100+ 0 1 4
50–99 1 4 8
20–49 4 10 6
Venezuela 100+ 0 0 0
50–99 1 1 2
20–49 11 13 7

Source: Pérez Perdomo (2014b), Latin Lawyer 250 (2015)

16 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

Table 1.3 Ten largest business law firms in seven Latin American countries by
size
Country 1999 2015 Growth

Argentina 85.4 114.6 134%

Brazil 87.3 372.8 427%
Chile 29.5 87.9 298%
Colombia 25.4 67.5 266%
Mexico 56.1 97.7 174%
Peru 26.2 98.6 376%
Venezuela 41.5 40.4 −1%

Source: Latin Lawyer 250 (1999, 2015)

their competitors. Conversely, an increase in the number of lawyers at a

firm or in the number of firms may be the consequence of individual law-
yers or entire departments moving from one firm to another, or becoming
independent and establishing their own firm.
There also appears to be a correlation between law firm growth and the
economic performance of a country. Variations in the rate of investments
are a useful example. If we look at Argentina, for instance, one of the most
important economies of the region, we can see that by 1999 its business
law firms rivaled their Brazilian counterparts in terms of average size. In
2009, Argentina felt slightly far behind Brazil, but by 2015, the gap
between the two was much wider. This latter period coincided with a
decrease in the Argentine economy and an expansion of the Brazilian econ-
omy (Bergoglio on Argentina and Craveiro and Gómez on Brazil, in this
volume). In México the size of the ten largest law firms almost doubled
between 1999 and 2015 (Meneses and Caballero, in this volume). Chile
and Colombia, where the average size of business law firms almost tripled
between 1999 and 2015, also had a period of economic expansion (De la
Maza et al. on Chile, and Lamprea and Díaz Chalela on Colombia, in this
volume). In the case of Peru, the growth during the same period is 376 per
cent (Gonzáles Mantilla, in this volume). Conversely, Venezuela has expe-
rienced stagnation with just a slight negative variation, which should come
as no surprise given the deep crisis that has affected the country during the
entire period (Gómez and Pérez Perdomo, in this volume).
Central America is the least explored sub-region. Upon gaining inde-
pendence from Spain, the territories of present-day Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala formed a federation called
 CORPORATE LAWYERS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN LATIN… 17

United Provinces of Central America, and later on the Federal Republic of

Central America. The five republics that exist today were formed upon the
federation’s dissolution in 1824. Their combined population is of approx-
imately 44 million inhabitants, and their territory occupies 522,760 km2
of land.
Since becoming independent, these countries have developed their
own legal and political systems, and their societies have taken their own
path. Notwithstanding, there have also been important efforts toward the
formation of a common economic market. The establishment of regional
law firms with presence in the capital of the different countries of the
region is a testament of it. Latin Lawyer 250 (2009) reported the forma-
tion and rapid expansion of some of these firms, in part because of the
upsurge of regional transactions between Central America and the rest of
the world (Taboada and Gómez, in this volume).
The absence of ethical rules that require Central American law firms to
carry the last name of their partners has allowed them to adopt evocative
names such as Consortium, BLP or Lexincorp. In terms of size, Central
American law firms are no different from their counterparts in the rest of
the region. For example, Consortium Legal has 143 lawyers, while
Lexincorp has 80 lawyers. There are also regional law firms that originated
in one country and then expanded to other countries while keeping the
original names of their founders. Some examples are Aguilar Castillo Love,
Arias & Muñoz (112 lawyers), and Pacheco Coto (38).
Compared to the rest of the region, the economies of Central American
countries are small, but their integration efforts and their opening to for-
eign investment have created an incentive for a robust corporate legal sec-
tor to emerge. The success of some of the recently formed regional law
firms lies in their capacity to operate across national borders, which brings
our attention to the more general theme of internationalization of busi-
ness lawyering.

Internationalization of Business Lawyering in Latin

America and Beyond
In 2015, the legal industry guide, Latin Lawyer 250, published a list of 48
international firms with a presence in Latin America. Six years earlier, the
same publication did not contain such a list. This does not mean that in
1999 there were no international firms in the region, but their presence
might not have been as noticeable as it is currently. Table 1.4 contains a
18 M. GÓMEZ AND R. PÉREZ-PERDOMO

Table 1.4 International law firms with most presence in six Latin American
countries (1999–2015)
1999 2015

Country Law firm # Lawyers Position # Lawyers Position

Argentina Baker & McKenzie 55 9 54 11

Chile Baker & McKenzie 0 0 42 10
Colombia Baker & McKenzie 0 0 69 5
Colombia Holland & Knight 0 0 31 8
Colombia Norton Rose Fulbright 0 0 22 12
Mexico Baker & McKenzie 105 1 215 1
Mexico White & Case 32 9 64 10
Mexico Curtis Mallet Prevost 22 14 0 0
Mexico Hogan Lovells 0 0 77 7
Peru Baker & McKenzie 0 0 101 4
Venezuela Baker & McKenzie 76 1 60 1
Venezuela Steel Hector & Davis 22 13 0 0
Venezuela Norton Rose Fulbright 15 14 41 5

Source: Latin Lawyer 250 (1999–2015)

list of international law firms with most presence in the region between
1999 and 2015.
Despite the fact that the list of international firms with presence in
Latin America is close to 50, only few of them have the largest offices in
each country. Baker & McKenzie is at the top of that list with the largest
law offices in Venezuela and Mexico. Baker’s other Latin American out-
posts include Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil. The case of
Brazil is particularly interesting when it comes to the penetration of for-
eign firms. Notwithstanding the enormous size of the Brazilian economy
and its regional and global importance, its national legal sector is strongly
protected. The local bar associations have imposed severe restrictions that
prevent foreign lawyers from entering and international law firms from
mingling with their Brazilian counterparts. Foreign firms can only set up
small shops to advise their clients on foreign law matters, and nothing else.
Brazilian firms that have also built strong alliances overseas with the key
players in the global arena do the bulk of the corporate legal work. Even
then, there are about 25 international law firms with presence in Brazil
(Conti Craveiro and Gómez, in this volume).
The case of Venezuela and Mexico is very different. These two coun-
tries opened their doors to foreign lawyers many decades ago. In the
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Title: Prima di partire

nuovi racconti

Author: Enrico Castelnuovo

Release date: September 18, 2023 [eBook #71678]

Language: Italian

Original publication: Milano: Treves, 1896

Credits: Barbara Magni and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced
from images generously made available by Biblioteca
Nazionale Braidense - Milano)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRIMA DI

PARTIRE ***
PRIMA DI PARTIRE.
PRIMA di PARTIRE

NUOVI RACCONTI

DI

Enrico Castelnuovo

MILANO
Fratelli Treves, Editori
1896
—
Secondo Migliaio.
PROPRIETÀ LETTERARIA.
Milano. — Tip. Treves.
 INDICE.

Prima di partire (diario di Elena) Pag. 1

Fuori di tempo e fuori di posto 72
Il salottino giapponese 200
Nell’andare al ballo 258
L’eredità di Giuseppina 274
Il natale di Ninetta 303
La nipote del colonnello 318
La zia Teresa 338
La bambina 352
 PRIMA DI PARTIRE
(Diario di Elena).

Venezia, lunedì, 31 maggio 1886.

Quest’album è invecchiato con le pagine bianche. L’ebbi in dono
dieci anni fa dalla povera mamma, quando, dopo aver letto Miranda
del Fogazzaro, mi venne il ghiribizzo di aver anch’io un album per
scrivervi, come Miranda, giorno per giorno i miei pensieri. Poi non vi
scrissi nemmeno una riga.... Può darsi che io sia volubile e
capricciosa, ma se debbo esser giusta ho pure un fondo di sincerità
e di schiettezza.... Riflettendoci bene, mi parve che questo registrar
solennemente tutte le fanfaluche che ci passano pel capo sia una
bella caricatura, tanto più che in via ordinaria la vita d’una ragazza
non è piena di avvenimenti, nè il suo cervello è fecondo di pensieri
che meritino di esser raccomandati alla posterità.... E dicci anni or
sono la mia vita si svolgeva placida, come acqua tranquilla di fiume
dentro i suoi margini, e in quanto a pensieri.... ne avevo così pochi!...
Più tardi capitarono i guai, e volti diletti si scolorarono e care voci
ammutolirono per sempre.... oh mi sarebbe parsa una profanazione
il sedermi a tavolino con la penna in mano per dare una forma
letteraria a’ miei sentimenti.
O dovevo forse notare le freddure di qualche bellimbusto, dovevo
descrivere la corte che qualcheduno mi fece nei tempi lieti, salvo a
piantarmi in asso nei tempi della sventura? No, no, abborro le inutili
querimonie.
Avrei potuto invece, come usano tante, seccare il prossimo,
affannarmi a raccogliere autografi illustri, detti memorabili, aborti
poetici e sgorbi pittorici; o, più modestamente, seguendo l’esempio
della mia amica Dall’Orno maritata a Vicenza, riempire il mio album
con le oleografie della Mode Illustrée.... Ho preferito lasciarlo dormire
per dieci anni.
Oggi l’ho tirato fuori dal suo cassetto, l’ho spolverato, l’ho aperto, e
son qui, son proprio qui, seduta al tavolino, e la mia penna corre su
queste pagine, e nonostante la mobilità del mio carattere credo che
per qualche settimana ancora dedicherò a tale occupazione
un’oretta al giorno.
Gli è che mi trovo in un momento solenne della mia vita, un
momento di cui desidero raccogliere e serbar tutte le impressioni e
tutti i ricordi. Sto per abbandonar forse per sempre la mia città, la
mia patria, sto per andar a migliaia e migliaia di miglia da qui, in un
paese di cui ignoro la lingua, dove sarò a poco a poco dimenticata
da conoscenti ed amici, dove, passati alcuni mesi, non mi giungerà
più una parola dalla mia Venezia.... Non è morire, ma ci somiglia.
Scommetto che chi leggesse queste righe direbbe: — Ah, una
ragazza che si marita all’estero.... Solite smorfie.
Non mi marito. Senza esser bella non sono neanche un mostro, ma
il fatto si è che ho venticinqu’anni compiuti e il mio sposo è sempre
di là da venire. Intanto vado a Tiflis a raggiungere un mio fratello che
è stabilito laggiù e al quale, dopo la morte del povero zio, il mio unico
sostegno da quando son rimasta orfana, dovevo pur scrivere per dir
ch’ero sola e che, una volta venduti i quattro stracci che avevo, sarei
rimasta sul lastrico. Fu una grande umiliazione, perchè di
quell’Odoardo, sebbene mio fratello, io rammento appena la
fisonomia; perchè ci siamo scambiate con lui forse tre lettere in tutta
la vita; e perchè infine, com’io sento pochissimo la famosa voce del
sangue, così non posso pretendere che la sentano molto gli altri....
Che cosa importa chiamarsi fratello e sorella quando non s’è
cresciuti insieme, quando non s’è avuta nessuna comunanza di
pensieri, di dolori, di gioie?
Eppure, come si fa? Con l’educazione da signorina che ho ricevuto,
guadagnarmi di punto in bianco da vivere m’era impossibile. Non
sono un’ignorante, ma non so nessuna cosa in modo da accingermi
ad insegnarla; non l’italiano e non il francese, non la musica e non il
disegno. Forse con un po’ di studio, con un po’ di pazienza ci
riuscirei, e in verità quello ch’io desideravo da Odoardo, il quale ha
voce d’essersi messo da parte una discreta fortuna, si era ch’egli mi
passasse un modesto assegno mensile fintantochè io fossi in grado
di bastare a me stessa. Egli però, con tutto il suo comodo, mi rispose
che poteva fare una cosa sola: prendermi seco. Avrei avuto una
posizione agiata, indipendente, sicura, e lo avrei certo risarcito ad
usura dell’ospitalità ch’egli mi offriva tenendogli in ordine la casa, o a
meglio dire permettendogli di avere una casa propria in luogo di
essere in balìa di gente mercenaria. Ci pensassi su, e se accettavo
la sua proposta gli spedissi un telegramma. Egli mi avrebbe subito
rimesso i fondi per il viaggio. Un viaggio, a sentir lui, che non deve
spaventarmi. Io non avevo che da prendere il vapore fino a
Costantinopoli; egli mi sarebbe venuto incontro colà, dove lo
chiamavano alcuni affari e dove si sarebbe trattenuto fino alla metà
di luglio; da Costantinopoli un altro piroscafo ci avrebbe condotti
insieme a Odessa, nel qual porto gli conveniva pure di fare una
piccola sosta; di là ci saremmo imbarcati per Batum. Da Batum a
Tiflis c’è la strada ferrata. Badassi bene di telegrafargli entro una
settimana dall’arrivo del suo foglio; prima almeno del 30 di maggio,
giorno in cui egli doveva partire senza fallo per Costantinopoli.
Questa lettera, lo confesso, mi suscitò una tempesta nell’anima.
Rispondere di sì era proprio giocare un terno al lotto; se c’era
incompatibilità di carattere tra mio fratello e me, se il clima di Tiflis
non si confaceva alla mia salute, se m’assaliva la nostalgia?... Ma
d’altra parte risponder di no era precludermi la sola via d’uscita
dagl’impicci in cui mi trovavo, era mettermi nella necessità di batter
di porta in porta alla ricerca d’un’occupazione pur che sia, e, peggio
ancora, espormi alla mortificazione delle beneficenze mal simulate;
inviti a desinare o in campagna, regali d’abiti dimessi e altre cose
simili.... Alla lunga poi, qualcheduno mi avrebbe detto: — Ma, cara
Elena, perchè vi siete lasciata sfuggir la buona occasione? — E
allora mi sarebbe convenuto scrivere di nuovo a mio fratello,
spiegargli le mie contraddizioni, pregarlo di compatirmi,
d’accogliermi!... No, no, a questo non volevo assolutamente
arrivarci.... Aggiungasi al resto il colèra che ha spopolato la città, che
mi toglie perfino la speranza di procurarmi qualche lezione....
Troncai gl’indugi, e prima che spirasse il termine stabilito spedii il
dispaccio.... Adesso attendo il danaro.
Non m’ero consigliata con anima viva. Consigliarsi in cose di poco
rilievo, passi; ma in cose gravi, Dio mio!... È il vero modo per non
venir più a capo di nulla. Ognuno dà un parere diverso e si finisce
coll’aver la testa come un cestone.
Così, quando, dopo l’invio del telegramma, annunziai alla signora
Celeste, la mia padrona di casa, che probabilmente sarei tra non
molto partita, per Tiflis, nel Caucaso, ella rimase fulminata. Non
occorre dire che le cognizioni geografiche della signora Celeste sono
men che mediocri, e che quest’era la prima volta ch’ella sentiva
parlare del Caucaso e di Tiflis.... — Vergine Santissima! — ella
esclamò — e che paesi sono? — Ma.... paesi alquanto lontani. —
Più lontani di Verona? — ella chiese. — Verona dov’ell’ha una
cugina maritata è il punto estremo a cui la signora Celeste si sia
spinta nello sue peregrinazioni. — Molto, molto più in là — risposi
sorridendo; — paesi che son fuori d’Europa, in Asia. — La signora
Celeste che non ha idee chiare delle cinque parti del mondo
congiunse le mani in atto di dolorosa maraviglia. — In Asia! Dunque
più in là anche di Milano?
— Più in là, più in là — replicai.
Un’idea terribile balenò nella mente della signora Celeste.
— Andrebbe, Dio guardi, fra i Turchi?
— Ci sono anche dei Turchi, ma la città appartiene ai Russi, che
sono cristiani.
— E ha preso una risoluzione simile così su due piedi? — seguitò la
buona donna che non sapeva darsi pace. — E può serbar questa
calma?
— Cara signora Celeste — dissi io — bisogna far di necessità virtù.
Del resto, la mia calma non era che apparente, e poi che fui nella
mia stanza ed ebbi dato il chiavistello all’uscio mi gettai con la faccia
sul letto, e inondai i guanciali di lacrime, e mi parve che sarei stata
tanto contenta se avessi potuto ritirare il telegramma e non partir più.
Ma ormai non c’era rimedio.
Il male si è che quanti più giorni passano tanto più sanguina la ferita
che questo prossimo distacco dalla mia patria mi ha aperto nel
cuore. Provo dentro di me un non so che d’inesplicabile. Questa città
dove son nata e cresciuta, di cui ho percorso forse tutte le strade e
calcato tutte le pietre, acquista ora per me un fascino nuovo; non
posso uscir di casa senz’aver qualche argomento di sorpresa. Dico a
me stessa: — Come? Non m’ero mai accorta di quell’effetto di luce,
di quel contrasto di colori, di quello scorcio così pittoresco? Cara,
cara Venezia!... Mi piacciono persino le suo brutture, le sue bicocche
più diroccate, le sue calli più anguste, i suoi rii più sudici. E anche
questa è curiosa. Cento faccie indifferenti che ho incontrato mille e
mille volte sul mio cammino, cento faccie di persone delle quali
ignoro il nome pigliano oggi a’ miei occhi un aspetto insolito; mi
sembra quasi ch’esse mi guardino con simpatia; mi sembra che, s’io
le incoraggiassi, le loro labbra si moverebbero per consigliarmi di
non partire, di restar qui, in mezzo ad amici.
Illusioni, fantasie d’un cervello malato. Evidentemente è così, ma
sento anche che quando sarò nella terra d’esilio, quando non vedrò
più il bel cielo d’Italia nè al mio orecchio sonerà il nostro dolcissimo
idioma, sarà un conforto per me il cullarmi in queste fantasie e in
queste illusioni. Voi mi aiuterete a evocarle, o pagine discrete, alle
quali confido i miei pensieri più intimi.
 Martedì, 1º giugno.
In casa della signora Celeste, ch’è vedova d’un impiegato e alla sua
magra pensione aggiunge il po’ che guadagna affittando camere
ammobigliate, ci sono, oltre a me, due inquilini, il professor Verdani,
bolognese, che veggo di rado e non sento mai, e il cavaliere Struzzi,
colonnello in pensione, che non veggo quasi mai e che sento
sempre.
La sua camera è dirimpetto alla mia, dall’altra parte del corridoio, e
io comincio a gustar le gioie di sì amabile vicinanza la mattina
quando la Gegia, la donna di servizio, va per tempissimo ad aprirgli
le imposte. Allora egli inizia la giornata scagliandosi contro di lei o
perchè è venuta troppo tardi o perchè è venuta troppo presto, e le dà
della marmotta, della buona a nulla, concludendo col dire ch’è
veneziana, e tanto busta. Poichè il colonnello, sebben veneziano
nelle midolle, ostenta un grande disprezzo pel suo paese e pe’ suoi
concittadini. Più tardi il bizzarro uomo si raddolcisce con la Gegia,
ma ne fa la sua vittima in un altro modo, costringendola a ricevere i
suoi sfoghi contro tutto e tutti, dai cuochi della trattoria che lo
avvelenano coi loro manicaretti sino al ministro della guerra che lo
ha messo in pensione prima di nominarlo generale. E una volta
toccato questo tasto, non la finisce più. A differenza dei veterani che
si vedono nelle commedie, ruvidi, brontoloni, ma pronti a
rasserenarsi se possono discorrere delle loro gesta, il colonnello o si
pente, o finge di pentirsi di tutto quello che ha fatto. È stato un prode,
ha preso parte alle guerre d’indipendenza dal 1848 in poi, s’è
guadagnata la medaglia al valor militare sul campo di Custoza e
dichiara che doveva invece tenersi un banco di lotto come aveva suo
padre, e non mischiarsi di politica, e non andar incontro alle palle e
alle sciatiche per quelle fanfaluche che si chiamano libertà e
indipendenza. Ma che libertà! Ma che indipendenza! Valeva la spesa
di gettar via gli anni più belli della vita perchè cinquecento arruffoni
potessero empir di chiacchiere quella loro gabbia di matti a cui
diedero il nome di Parlamento?
Queste filippiche si rinnovano più volte nel corso della giornata sotto
forma di soliloqui, specialmente quando il colonnello legge i fogli che
gl’irritano i nervi, ma dei quali non può star senza. — Buffoni! — egli
esclama di tratto in tratto rivolgendosi a interlocutori immaginari —
Asini e buffoni!
Alle quattro pomeridiane il mio bell’originale esce di casa e va a
deliziare con la sua festività i tavoleggianti del caffè e del restaurant;
rientra poi alle dieci, e nelle rare occasioni in cui è di buon umore
dice alla Gegia nell’atto di prendere il lume dalle sue mani: — Vado a
mettermi orizzontale — locchè significa che va a letto. Se invece ha
la luna a rovescio, ed è ciò che accade per solito, borbotta quattro
impertinenze a modo di felice notte e si chiude con malagrazia nella
sua camera per riaprir l’uscio di lì a poco e gettarne fuori gli stivali
che talora vengono a battere sulla mia parete.
Ebbene; non c’è dubbio che il colonnello sia un vicino poco
piacevole; ma in fin dei conti non fa male a nessuno e sento che mi
parrà molto strano di non udir più la sua voce.
In quanto al professore Verdani egli è il perfetto contrapposto del
colonnello. È un giovine pallido, studioso, timidissimo, taciturno. Lo
incontro spesso per le scale ed egli si fa piccino piccino, e tenendosi
alla propria destra rasente al muro si tocca col dito la tesa del
cappello e bisbiglia un impercettibile: — Riverisco.
Il buon professore è l’idolo della signora Celeste. Così scrupoloso
nel pagar la sua mesata, così pieno di riguardi, così affabile con lei e
con la Gegia! È una brava persona anche, un uomo che col tempo
diverrà famoso. La signora Celeste non se ne intende, ma glielo
assicurò il bidello della scuola ove il professore dà le sue lezioni....
Ha ormai stampato dei libri!... A questo proposito la signora Celeste
mi mostrò in gran segretezza un opuscolo ch’ella aveva preso sulla
tavola del Verdani, un opuscolo composto proprio da lui e del quale
egli aveva ricevuto dallo stampatore una cinquantina di copie,
tantochè non si sarebbe nemmeno accorto del piccolo furto.
Quell’opuscolo la signora Celeste non lo leggeva, perchè già non
aveva confidenza con la lettura, e in ogni caso l’argomento era
troppo difficile per lei.... Ma se volevo darci un’occhiata io che avevo
studiato alla scuola superiore femminile?
Lo apersi per curiosità, e lessi il titolo: Angoli di due spazi contenuti
nello spazio a N dimensioni.
Santo cielo! Questo è arabo, persiano, sanscrito.
So dalla Gegia che oggi i miei due coinquilini si sono occupati
entrambi di me, mostrandosi, ciascuno a suo modo, dolenti della mia
partenza. — Chi sa chi verrà in luogo suo — brontolò il colonnello —
quella lì almeno non recava disturbo.
E il professore disse: — Mi dispiace davvero. Una signorina tanto
per bene.

Mercoledì, 2 giugno.
Il colèra è da lunedì in qualche descrescenza, ma seguita a colpire
più d’una trentina di persone al giorno. La città è squallida e triste.
Dietro le vetrine delle botteghe non si leggono che avvisi mortuari di
persone uccise dal fiero morbo, dal crudo morbo, dall’inesorabile
morbo, eleganti perifrasi per indicare il colèra senza nominarlo. Le
muraglie sono coperte di manifesti sesquipedali che vantano al
pubblico le glorie di questo o quel preservativo infallibile.
Si vanno aprendo collette e istituendo comitati: della Croce verde,
della Società del Bucintoro; si annunziano distribuzioni gratuite di
commestibili, questue per le case, ecc., ecc.; tutta roba che fa salir la
mosca al naso al colonnello Struzzi. L’ho sentito stamattina
esprimere le sue opinioni in proposito alla Gegia. Che Croce rossa, o
verde, o bianca?... Buffonate di gente che vuol mettersi in evidenza
e magari buscarsi un cavalierato.... Ci credete voi al colèra?.... Non
vi domando il vostro parere; può importarmene molto del vostro
parere!... Ma vi dico io che non c’è colèra, non c’è che un branco di
vigliacchi che scappano e un manipolo di vanitosi che si
arrampicherebbero sugli specchi per richiamare l’attenzione sopra di
sè.... Come quei dottorini della policlinica che girano per la città in
cerca di colerosi, e quando non ce ne sono se ne inventano....
Saltimbanchi, saltimbanchi!... Oh nel 1849 sì che ci fu il colèra a
Venezia, e avevamo più di quattrocento casi in un giorno.... Ma già
voi non eravate neanche nata nel 49... Peggio per voi che vi
toccherà stare di più in questo mondaccio.... Cosa c’è? Dove
andate?
— Ma.... — balbettò la ragazza — hanno suonato alla porta di
strada.
— Che aspettino.... Fin che parlo io, voi dovete rimanere.... Dove
avete imparato la creanza?
In quel momento suonarono di nuovo, e siccome sapevo che la
signora Celeste era uscita e ritenevo quindi che fosse lei, andai io
stessa ad aprire.
Era invece il professore Verdani che aveva dimenticato la chiave di
casa e veniva a prenderla. Figuriamoci com’egli rimase quando vide
me sul pianerottolo, come arrossì, e quante scuse mi fece. Gli
dispiaceva proprio d’avermi disturbata.
— Un disturbo piccolo — risposi; — La Gegia è tenuta in chiacchiere
dal signor colonnello.
— Ah! — fece il professore.
E voleva aggiungere qualche cosa, e qualche cosa volevo
aggiungere anch’io. Ma eravamo imbarazzati tutti e due e ci
limitammo a un saluto più espansivo del solito.
A guardarlo bene il professore non è mica un brutto giovine....
Probabilmente la lettera di Odoardo è in viaggio. Ma da Tiflis a
Venezia le lettere ci mettono un paio di settimane, sicchè ho da
aspettare almeno dieci o dodici giorni. Sono curiosa di vedere quanti
danari mio fratello mi manda, e aspetto la sua rimessa prima di fare
alcune spese necessarie pel mio viaggio e di comperare qualche
regaluccio per le mie amiche. S’egli non mi spedisce che quanto
occorre strettamente pel tragitto a Costantinopoli, mi converrà
vendere o impegnare i pochi oggetti preziosi che conservo come
ricordi di famiglia.... Sarebbe un principiar molto male.

Sabato, 5 giugno.
Questa mattina la signora Celeste s’era fitta in capo di condurmi alla
chiesa della Salute, ove c’è una funzione solenne per invocar dalla
Madonna la cessazione del morbo che ci affligge. Io rispetto le
credenze di tutti, ma non so simulare una fede che non ho. Rifiutai
quindi d’accompagnare la mia padrona di casa nel suo
pellegrinaggio, e per quietarla le promisi di non partir da Venezia
senza essermi recata una domenica con lei a San Marco, all’ora
della messa grande.... Ci andrò volentieri; la basilica è tanto bella! E
poi non sono mica una giacobina, non ho mica l’orrore dei templi,
non mi atteggio io, povera donna, ignorante, a libera pensatrice, a
spirito forte.... Ho una ripugnanza invincibile a fingere, ecco tutto.
Del resto, la signora Celeste non è punto intollerante e fanatica.
Siamo uscite insieme anche stamane di buonissimo accordo; ella
andò alla sua chiesa, io andai da altra parte. Nel ritorno presi il
vaporino a San Moisè e mi trovai seduta poco distante dal dottor
Negrotti, il nostro medico antico, quello che mi ha vista nascere.
Volevo salutarlo, ma egli era in compagnia, e miope com’è non mi
ravvisò.
Passammo dinanzi alla Salute. La superba chiesa era aperta,
sfavillante di ceri; moltissime gondole erano ferme dinanzi alla riva,
quelle tra l’altre del Municipio, con le bandiere a prora e i barcaiuoli
in tenuta di gala.
— Dottore — disse qualcheduno — ci crede lei alla Madonna della
Salute quale specifico contro il colèra?
— Caro mio — rispose il medico — credo appena al laudano, e poco
anche a quello.
Seguitarono così per un pezzo, tirando giù a campane doppie contro
i pregiudizi popolari, contro le processioni di fanciulle scalze, contro
la Giunta municipale che interveniva in pompa magna a una
cerimonia religiosa.
— Meno male la Giunta! — sospirò con comica gravità il dottor
Negrotti, — il peggio si è che ha voluto intervenirvi mia moglie,
pigliando per sè la gondola e sforzandomi a girar per la città in
vaporetto.
Il dottor Negrotti è molto invecchiato d’aspetto, ma è sempre lo
stesso uomo, scettico, sarcastico; e non dubito che si sarà
conservato buonissimo di fondo, caritatevole e leale a tutta prova.
Avevo rinunziato a salutarlo per oggi, quando alla stazione della Cà
d’Oro vidi con piacere ch’egli s’accommiatava dagli amici e
scendeva con me.
Me gli accostai tendendogli la mano. — Dottore, non mi riconosce?
— Oh! — fec’egli con un sorriso cordiale. — L’Elena?... Era in tram?
— Sì certo.... e a pochi passi da lei.... Ma non osavo disturbarlo.
— Perchè, perchè?... Oh come sono lieto di quest’incontro!... Dopo
tanto tempo! E come va, cara Elena?
Una volta il dottor Negrotti mi dava del tu; adesso si capisce che gli
faccio soggezione.
Camminavamo a fianco; egli era diretto dalla stessa parte ov’ero
diretta io. Gli raccontai le mie ultime vicende, la solitudine in cui ero
rimasta, la decisione che avevo presa di raggiunger mio fratello a
Tiflis.
— Oh diavolo, diavolo! — esclamò il dottore. — Che cosa mi
narra?... Ma lei deve appena conoscerlo quest’Odoardo. Era poco
più d’una bambina quando partì.
— Fu nel 66. Avevo cinqu’anni.
— Sicuro. Tra voi altri due ci devono essere almeno quindici anni di
differenza.
— Sedici ce ne sono.
— Già.... Odoardo è ormai un uomo maturo.... Come passa il
tempo!... Allora era un bel giovinetto.... molto vivace.... forse troppo
vivace....
Io non dissi nulla.... Pensavo alle lacrime che quel ragazzo aveva
fatto spargere a’ miei genitori.
— Non cattivo però — soggiunse Negrotti. — Era di quelli che hanno
bisogno di libertà, che non sanno adattarsi a star nelle file.... Ma una
volta che si sono aperta una strada, metton giudizio.... Deve aver
girato molto....
— Oh moltissimo!... Non s’è fissato a Tiflis che nell’83.
— E non ha mai fatto una corsa sin qui?
— Mai.
Il dottore rimase un momento soprappensiero; poi mi domandò: — È
rimasto scapolo?
— Sì.
— Capisco — riprese il vecchio medico. — Lei non ha altri appoggi,
non ha altri parenti....
— Nessuno, nessuno.... Ma — esclamai — sia sincero.... Crede che
io stia per commettere un grande sproposito?
— No, cara Elena, no.... È probabile che al suo posto avrei fatto lo
stesso anch’io..... A ogni modo, lei è una ragazza coraggiosa; se non
si trovasse bene saprebbe tornare nel suo paese.
— Oh! — diss’io.... tentennando la testa — non tornerò più.
E mi salivano le lacrime agli occhi.
Il dottore rallentò il passo, e mi mostrò un portone all’angolo della
calle. — Debbo fermarmi qui.... Ma lei non parte mica subito?...
Gli risposi che ritenevo di non partire prima della fine del mese.