Roundtable with Becker: Navigating a Shifting Legal and (Trade) Policy Landscape

Speakers

• 1 Gabriel Monzon-Cortarelli Head of International Practice Group, Becker
  

  1 Gabriel Monzon-Cortarelli

  Head of International Practice Group, Becker

  Gabriel Monzon-Cortarelli is a shareholder in the firm’s corporate practice and Chair of the International Practice Group, Europe and Latin America. He has broad experience with cross-border M&A transactions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances involving the United States, Europe, and Latin America, and international capital market offerings for European and Latin American issuers and underwriters.

  Gabriel, resident in New York and Milan, assists companies, entrepreneurs, and global private markets investors, including managed fund investors, fundless sponsors and private investors, entering or expanding their presence in the U.S., Latin American and European markets, as well as accessing the U.S. and European major public and private capital markets.

  Additionally, he represents global corporations in a broad spectrum of industry sectors including defense, food and beverage, retail, entertainment, logistics, transportation and automotive, engineering and energy, as well as, leading global financial institutions. Gabriel is dual-qualified and dual-educated in the United States and United Kingdom and is registered with the New York Bar and Bars in other European jurisdictions. Prior to joining Becker, Gabriel practiced with various AmLaw 30 international law firms based in New York and Europe (Milan – Italy) where he led a dedicated group of lawyers advising on foreign direct investments in-bound to the United States and Latin America. In addition to his legal experience, on secondment from his prior law firm and as part of a change of control transaction, Gabriel acted as executive board member of a European closed-end fund manager which managed closed-end funds with assets under management of €1.5bn. Gabriel also routinely acts as independent director in various corporate boards of European and U.S. companies.

  In addition to his law degrees (LL.M and LL.B) from Fordham Law School and University College London, Gabriel has an MBA from Bocconi University School of Management. He is fluent in English, Italian and Spanish and has strong knowledge of French.

• Omar Franco Head of Federal Lobbying Practice, Becker Washington D.C.
  

  Omar Franco

  Head of Federal Lobbying Practice, Becker Washington D.C.

  Omar Franco heads Becker’s Federal Lobbying Practice in Washington, D.C. He currently represents a wide variety of clients including Fortune 500
  companies, small businesses, higher education institutions, trade associations, non-profit organizations, and municipal governments. A
  recognized leader in the field, Franco was named a “Top Lobbyist” by the National Institute of Lobbying & Ethics (NILE) in 2024 and 2020 and has
  been featured as a “Hired Gun” on The Hill’s annual list of Top Lobbyists since 2018.

  Omar began federal lobbying in 1999 when he became Director of Governmental Relations for the University of Miami’s School of Medicine. In
  2001, University of Miami President Donna Shalala promoted him to Assistant Vice President of Governmental Relations, where he represented
  the university at both the federal and state levels of government and primarily worked on appropriations and health care issues.

  In 2003, Omar was named Chief of Staff for Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL). Omar held this position for over four years, managing the
  Congressman’s Washington D.C., and district operations and closely counseling the Congressman in his areas of expertise which include federal
  appropriations, health care, transportation, higher education and issues dealing with Hispanics and the state of Florida. During his tenure, Omar was
  granted Top Secret security clearance by the U.S. Department of Defense and assisted in founding the Congressional Hispanic Conference and the
  Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute.

  In 2007, Omar joined Petrizzo Strategic Group where he was the lead government relations consultant for a tribal government, a pharmaceutical
  company, a state university, health care plans, and the several municipalities. He also worked on federal issues for CNL Financial Group, Vulcan Inc.,
  Charter Communications and Frontier Communications, among others. Omar founded Franco Government Relations in 2010 where he represented
  a tribal government, a state university and several municipalities, including the City of Hialeah which he continues to represent to this day.

  Omar began his government service in 1993 as the District Legislative Assistant for Florida State Representatives Art Simon (Democrat) and Annie
  Betancourt (Democrat) and then Florida State Senator Mario Diaz-Balart (Republican). He also worked as a Field Office Director for the Florida
  Medical Association before joining the University of Miami.