José Antonio is the managing partner of Dentons Muñoz in Central America and in Costa Rica. His practice focuses on the intersection of business and public law, public international law, and government. In addition to corporate law, he practices government relations, corporate governance, foreign direct investment and international investment disputes, international and domestic corporate and tax structuring, and real estate law. Moreover, he is leading the firm’s Rule of Law (ROL) initiative in association with a number of leading ROL organizations, including the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in the United Kingdom and the World Justice Project in the United States.

José Antonio has been at the center of legal innovation across the region for more than three decades and is one of Central America’s top corporate lawyers. Now, as founding partner of Dentons Muñoz, he seeks to extend the firm’s global reach through the Dentons’ offices worldwide.

Throughout his career, José Antonio has played an active role in government relations by shaping Central America’s public and private policy. He successfully lobbied in favor of trade laws such as CBI-CBI-II, U.S. DR-CAFTA, represented the Costa Rican private sector in the country’s accession to GATT; and helped, with his proactive advocacy, to conclude the negotiation of a settlement agreement with the U.S. International Trade Commission related to countervailing and dumping investigations. While deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington, D.C., José Antonio represented the government of Costa Rica at the U.S. Department of State, USTR, USDOC, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the National Security Council. Subject matters included Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)/labor investigations, freedom of the seas, international extraditions, and the applications to Costa Rica of the Gonzales and Hickenlooper Amendments to the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act.

In Costa Rica, José Antonio has represented clients in cases involving government affairs, international trade and customs, expropriation, creeping expropriation, incompatibility of local practices with international rule of law standards, and FCPA and U.K. anti-bribery matters. He has negotiated public private partnership (PPP) arrangements with the government for public works projects, helping navigate opposition to the proposals.