Michael Pierce and his associates have practiced international and environmental law for more than 40 years. Latinlaw and Pierce Global's home base is Panama City Panama, with a associate offices worldwide. Our law practice is focused mainly on international, cross-border legal issues involving aviation, maritime, and environmental law issues.
Latinlaw has represented clients in many major air crash cases in Russia, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus, Peru, Panama, Colombia, United States, Indonesia, and China. Michael Pierce has lectured at law schools in India, Peru, and Panama, talking about international cross-border legal issues. He is a founding member of Panama's American Chamber of Commerce, Panama West Rotary Club, and the Global Justice Forum of worldwide attorneys.
Latinlaw is sincerely interested in networking with people interested in: our environment, green investment opportunities in Panama, Panama's Darien Province and its tropical rainforest, and the indigenous tribes of Panama. Latinlaw, our partners in Houston, Texas, and the Panamanian law firm of Carreira Pitti, represent 5,000 Ngobe-Bugle in a massive oil spill which destroyed most of the marine life in the Bay of Chiriqui. Our Ngobe clients have filed their case in Panama's Maritime Court and are fighting to resolve it quickly. The Ngobe-Bugle have many villages, fronting the Bay of Chiriqui. Their milleniums-old culture and life-style center around Chiriqui Bay and the sustenance that it once provided. Now, the Ngobe-Bugle are floating in a sea of uncertainty. Their youth, most of whom leave school after the 6th grade, have a dim future. They can no longer fish in the Bay of Chiriqui. Many Ngobe girls start having babies at 12 years of age. Earning a salary is a miraculous event. Without fishing, the Ngobe are farming (mainly for sustenance) and looking for jobs, across the Bay, in Chiriqui Grande or elsewhere. In short, their culture is weakening daily.
Through our experience with the Ngobe-Bugle and our Embera-Wounaan clients in the Darien jungle, we have entered a whole new world of dichotomies. These proud people should have doctoral degrees from Harvard as "Guardians of the Rain Forest." Instead they are the poorest of the poor in Panama, with no real voice. Their comarcas (or reservations) have over a million hectares of tropical rain forest, and prime land, worth more than gold if developed in a sustainable fashion. To date, their comarcas continue to be ravaged---and the indigenous can only stand back an watch, victimized by their poverty. We are in the process of forming a network with foundations, investors, and environmentalists interested in helping Panama's indigenous people. As a newly-named Director of Earthtrain www.earthtrain.org Pierce is furthering this goal.
Environmental
