GEORGES SANTONI RECIO
Practice areas:
Foreign Investment, Agency and Distribution Law, Commercial Litigation, Dispute Resolution, Arbitration.
Experience:
Georges Santoni Recio has worked all his professional career at RV&HB, starting as a law clerk in 1980, becoming a partner in 1990, and managing partner from 2000 to 2024. He currently remains an active partner at the firm, with a strong practice in foreign investment law, international trade and related matters.
He is also a practicing litigator, specializing in general civil and commercial litigation. Because of his fluency in English and French, in addition to his native Spanish, Mr. Santoni Recio is especially well qualified to assist foreign clients in their business and litigation matters in the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Santoni-Recio has advised multilateral lenders on a variety of structured and corporate finance transactions, including a broad range of financing, M&A, real estate, commercial, government contracts, and project finance. He has also been consulted as an expert witness on Dominican civil law matters in international arbitrations.
Has been internationally ranked by Chambers and Partners (Band 1 for Corporate/Commercial; Band 2 for Corporate/Commercial: Dispute Resolution). According to Chamber and Partners “Clients describe him as one of the best lawyers to work with; he is resourceful with a good focus on our needs”. He has also been recommended by Legal 500 Latin America as “Leading Individual” defined as true market leader in his sector. In addition, he is an active member of MERITAS ® and EDUCA (a Dominican nonprofit advocacy organization involved in public education reform).
Education:
- Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, (LL. B., Cum Laude, 1982)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Certificate in United States Law & Legal Institutions (Summer of 1983)
- L’Université de Droit, d’Economie et de Sciences Sociales de Paris (D. S. U. in Commercial Law, 1984)
Memberships:
- Dominican Bar Association.
- Dominican Association of Business Lawyers.
- Associate Member of the American Bar Association (ABA).
- Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA).
- Past president of the Institutionally and Justice Foundation, Inc. (FINJUS).
- Past president of EDUCA.
- Past Board member of Meritas Law Firms Worldwide.
- Past Board member of the Dominican-French Chamber of Commerce.
- American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic.
- Chamber of Commerce and Production of Santo Domingo, Inc.
Author:
Georges Santoni Recio has written extensively in the fields of agency and distributorship law, foreign investment and companies’ law, including: “Meritas Business Guide Latin America & Caribbean: A Legal Guide for Business Investment and Expansion” published by Meritas, 2025; “Changes in Securities Regulations; Applicability in the Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises,” for Cedempresa Law Review; “Agency and Distribution Agreements in Dominican Republic” Butterworths Treatise; “Le Statut de Protection des Agents et Distributeurs, Revue St. Domingue Affaires,”; the Dominican Chapter for the “International Encyclopedia of Agency and Distribution Agreements”, Co-author of “A practical guide for the incorporation of Dominican companies” for Corporate UK and Globe Law and Business; Co-author of the Dominican Chapter 14 in the thirteenth edition “Mergers and Acquisitions” of The Law Reviews; Latin Lawyer Reference: Labour & Employment 2020; Dominican Republic Country Overview for Chambers & Partners Latin America 2018; The Dominican Republic chapter of “Business Guide Latin America & Caribbean: a legal guide for business investment and expansion” published by Meritas in 2025, among others.
Languages:
Spanish, English and French.
