As with many of our offices around the globe, recent weeks have posed a unique challenge for our team in Miami.

With the state of Florida in lockdown following the outbreak of COVID-19, OEP Raoul Cantero has been managing the office through the crisis.

He says: “I became OEP last summer and this is clearly by far the biggest challenge I’ve had to handle.

“We’re used to crisis management when it comes to hurricanes, but nobody could be prepared for the sheer scale and unpredictability of this pandemic.”

Even so, Raoul took a front-foot approach that stood the team in good stead when Florida went into lockdown in mid-March.

He says: “Before we closed the office, we tried our best to keep the team safe through extensive cleaning of high-traffic areas, the use of sanitizing hand wipes and lotion and cancellation of non-essential meetings and activities.

“When the emergency order came for us to work from home, we’d already held remote-readiness training for our people, many of whom had never worked remotely before.”

Since then, the team has adapted well, with only the cancellation or delay of court hearings holding up any ongoing work.

Raoul says: “The team has reacted brilliantly, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The situation has been stressful and disorientating for all of us, but my formula is to put the emphasis on communication, so we continue to feel connected.”

To that end, the office quickly set up a light-hearted online forum titled Raoul’s Cabin Fever Forum, established a daily Coronavirus Update email distribution to all colleagues, and sponsored a 12-week online Resilient Mind & Body Training program.

“We’re also holding regular partner meetings and office video conferences with the aim of keeping connected as much as we can,” says Raoul.

Speaking in an interview before the pandemic, Raoul also spoke to us about the office’s achievements during the past year.

He said: “We’ve seen incremental growth during recent times, three of our associates have been promoted to partner, and we’ve added several strategic lateral hires.

“Importantly, we’ve also taken great strides forward in making the office a great place to work.”

Raoul leads the Miami office’s Disputes practice and has built a reputation as a leading appeals lawyer since joining the Firm in 2008.

Over the past three decades, he’s handled more than 400 appeals and was named Miami Appellate Practice Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America in 2017.

He was also listed among the top 500 lawyers in the United States by LawDragon in 2016.

Raoul says: “I’m still fairly new to the OEP role, but I’m enjoying it. We have a great team who love working together.”

One aspect of the office Raoul loves is the variety of work the team does.

He says: “Our office is unusual because around two-thirds of our work isn’t local. The Financial Restructuring and Insolvency (FRI) lawyers are directed nationally and our Corporate, Energy, Infrastructure, Project and Asset Finance (EIPAF), and M&A lawyers are focused mainly on Latin America, so it’s really only the Commercial Litigation team that does work in Florida.

“This makes it a really dynamic environment with strong collaboration across the network, both in the United States and internationally.”

Since its inception, the Miami office has been the base for pioneering partners, including those playing a significant role in the founding of several offices in Asia, our Mexico City office, our Johannesburg office and our São Paulo office.

Additionally, former and current partners of the Miami office have served and continue to hold senior leadership positions in the Firm. They include Tom Lauria as global head of FRI, Jason Zakia as regional section head of Americas Commercial Litigation, Chris Hansen, who was regional section head of Americas EIPAF, Carlos Viana as head of our Latin America Interest Group, and Donald Baker who serves on the Firm’s Executive Committee.

“We have a very hard working, talented and integrated team,” says Raoul, “with many of our people, particularly our Business Services professionals, having been here for more than 20 years, including our Office Manager, William Sancho.”

Raoul’s career at White & Case couldn’t have begun at a more challenging time – he joined in 2008, just as the global financial crisis was beginning.

He says: “It was a tough time for the Firm because, just after I joined, we went from having 100 lawyers in Miami to around 60.

“Since then, it’s been a story of consistent, strategic and incremental growth, and we’re now back up to 90 through a very stable, thoughtful approach to recruitment.”

Highlights of Raoul’s career at the Firm have included representing the Florida governor in a successful appeal relating to changes in the state pension scheme, saving the state $1 billion per year, and his representation of the Florida Senate in its re-mapping of congressional and state senate voting districts.

He says: “The redistricting cases involved three trials, and I appeared in the Florida Supreme Court about eight times over several years.

“It was a fascinating time, because we had Florida legislators, including the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate, testifying about their intent in a trial for the first time in the history of the state.”

Diversity is something Raoul is passionate about. Back in 2002, he was named Florida’s first Hispanic justice when he was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Jeb Bush.

From 2014-2019, Raoul was the Firm’s Global Executive Partner for Diversity, responsible for overseeing the Firm’s recruitment, retention and promotion of minority lawyers.

During his tenure, Law360 named White & Case the most diverse law firm in the United States, and we’ve also been ranked No.1 for the diversity of our attorneys by AmLaw for four consecutive years.

Raoul says: “I’m proud of the way the Firm has led the way on diversity and inclusion, and it’s something we’ve also brought to life in Miami.

“We have a very diverse team and 40 percent of our lawyers are women. Inclusion is embedded in our culture, and we’re seen as a fulcrum for diversity-related events in the city, with Partner Sheldon Philp being president of the Caribbean Bar Association and organizing an event each year during Black History Month. Counsel Fan He also hosts events for the Asia Pacific Bar.

“We’ve also introduced some initiatives this year to improve our sustainability, such as an eco-friendly water filtration system; and we are rolling out a service providing gourmet ready-made meals to reduce the need for colleagues to bring in their own lunches.”

Raoul is confident about the continued growth of the Miami office and was inspired by attending the Global Partner Meeting in London earlier this year.

“I found it really energizing to see everyone together for what was the biggest GPM we’ve ever had,” he says. “It shows the importance of networking with colleagues from across the Firm and gives you an appreciation of just how global we are.

“It makes me proud to be part of it and ready to keep contributing to our success.”