Legal advice
in your language.
At Southern Connections Law, we specialise in providing tailored legal solutions for clients navigating legal issues or business opportunities in Australia and Latin America, offering strategic advice in a clear and personalised manner - and in Spanish! We are based in Sydney, and provide our legal services all across Australia. We also work with key partners in Chile and Latin America, helping connect business opportunities across the Pacific.
Who We Are
Southern Connections Law is a boutique commercial law firm located in Sydney, Australia and founded in 2024. We provide strategic, uncomplicated and straightforward advice to our clients.
Our Principal lawyer, Valentina Garcia Cantolla, is both dual-registered to practice law in Australia and Chile, and a dual-national of both countries. As such, a key focus of the firm is assisting Latin American clients in Australia, and clients in Latin American countries seeking to do business in Australia. We provide our services in both English and Spanish, depending on client preferences.
As a modern law firm, we are happy to offer our services on a fixed-fee basis, thereby to deliver our legal advice and results with certainty.
Our Services
SCL is your point of contact for Spanish-speaking clients looking for assistance with their Australian projects, from a legal but also cultural perspective. We also help Australian businesses explore and understand the Latin American market.
We provide your business with practical, timely and cost-effective solutions which can be delivered in English or Spanish, as needed. Plus, we offer the option to work on a fixed fee basis, providing certainty and avoiding surprises on your legal costs.
Our team has the expertise, skills and key connections to support your legal needs in both Australia and Latin America. If you require advice that falls outside our expertise, we manage the engagement of external counsel or service providers, so that you have a single point of contact and avoid the complexity of dealing with multiple lawyers and/or firms. Our main areas of practice are below.
We provide advice and commercial services to businesses of all sizes, drafting and negotiating a range of commercial agreements. Whether it be a shareholder/subscription agreement, a loan or facility and security documents, or a complex suite of documents for new a project, development or venture, we have you covered.
Corporate and Banking & Finance
At SCL, we have a deep understanding of intellectual property and its commercialisation, and the supporting legal frameworks. We offer a range of services including technology licensing, risk assessment/management, IP protection, trademarks, and negotiation of complex deals. We also offer a fixed-fee patent filing and prosecution service for clients seeking to bring their existing patent rights to Australia.
Intellectual Property Law and Trademarks
We are able to assist with your business set-up and structuring in Australia, and provide guidance on how things work in the Australian market from a legal, governance and cultural standpoint.
We are also able to assist with complex legal translations to assist your business endeavours in Australia (or South America).
Business set-up and support
Our team can assist with you immigration journey and help with your business or personal visa inquiries and requirements, in particular in the context of enabling professionals to access the working force in Australia and Latam, and other immigration issues. We work closely with immigration agents and lawyers at Riverwood Migration, and we are happy to assist with all sorts of visa requirements.
Immigration Services
Our People
Valentina Garcia
Valentina began her career in Chile where she completed her law degree at the prestigious Universidad Católica de Chile, and was then admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Chile in 2011. After migrating to Australia, she finished the Juris Doctor program at the University of New South Wales and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia in 2016.
Valentina has been working for top and mid-tier law firms in Chile and Sydney, Australia for the last 10 years, and has particular expertise in debt finance in the construction and commercial property industries, business transactions and property work. In addition, she has corporate law experience, including advising on business incorporation and general business matters.
The opportunity to work in Chile and Australia has given Valentina invaluable tools to provide excellent legal services to clients in both countries. Her knowledge of both legal systems and comparative law analysis, makes Valentina a key partner for her clients’ international endeavours.
Principal and Founder
Matt Ward
Matt is one of Australia’s leading dual-registered technology lawyers and patent attorneys, with 20 years’ experience practicing across all areas of intellectual property law.
Matt’s key focus is on delivering IP strategy and services in a manner that is practical, commercial and effective. This includes capture, management and licensing of IP assets such as patents and trade secrets. He provides advice to companies ranging from startups to ASX-listed public entities and multinationals, often working alongside larger general practice firms to offer bespoke and specialist expertise in the areas of technology and IP.
Being dual-registered, Matt is one of only a handful of practitioners in Australia who is able to assist with the preparation and prosecution of patent applications, and also with broader legal advice relevant to commercialization and technology, allowing for a comprehensive and holistic approach to strategy and advice.
Director and IP lawyer/patent attorney
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