José Cruz Campillo, managing partner of Dominican law firm Ulises Cabrera, is a highly regarded lawyer with more than 30 years in legal practice. He specialises in agency and distribution, corporate law, foreign investment, free zones, labour, as well as intellectual property and telecommunications.
Cruz Campillo talked to LATIN COUNSEL about his experience in the field of law.
Latin Counsel: Tell us about your professional career.
José Cruz Campillo: I started at Compañía Dominicana de Teléfonos (today Claro, S.A.) in the legal department, where I headed the corporate area and later the Interconnection and Regulatory area, being the focal point for CODETEL in the commission that worked on what is today the General Telecommunications Law. Subsequently, I became a senior associate and then partner at Russin Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti. In 2003 I became a founding partner of the firm Jiménez Cruz Peña, and after the separation of its partners’ practices at the beginning of 2020, I joined the firm Ulises Cabrera as managing partner. In my career, I have mainly developed in the establishment of foreign companies in the Dominican Republic, the development of Free Trade Zones, distribution contracts and in administrative tax litigation and labour law, in everything that has to do with trade union and employment law.
LC: What have been the biggest challenges you have faced as a lawyer since you started your career?
JCC: The difficulty of explaining to clients from countries with due process of law the shortcomings or weaknesses of decisions coming from our judiciary and the administrative/governmental train.
LC: What have been the most motivating experiences in your career?
JCC: In addition to having worked on regulations, which at the time became a modern law, I have been working for the free zone sector on some regulations that were initially of benefit to the client we were representing and later became the norm.
LC: How are you experiencing this situation with the Pandemic?
JCC: Full of challenges, we have had to adjust to the new times, the service requirements have remained the same. Thanks to the use of technology we have been able to provide seamless services and represent our clients’ interests adequately.
LC: What advice would you give to future generations entering the field of law?
JCC: Hard work, research, research, research and research. Also develop an objective capacity in order to become a true consultant and be able to recommend to clients solutions that are not only legal, but also cost-effective. Live and develop each stage, experience is not transmitted by osmosis, it is acquired by working.
