Hi there, how’s it going? On this occasion, Untitled’s newsletter carries a full name: Martín Litwak here, founder and CEO of Untitled, and I have taken over our traditional newsletter. After all, it is not every day that we celebrate our 10th anniversary.
In fact, it is hard to believe sometimes. Ten years! Many people had known us when we were Litwak & Partners and were working from a small office on the top floor of my house in Parque Batlle, Montevideo. Some big companies are born out of a garage in Silicon Valley, and some others are more rustic…
When I take a look at what we have achieved since then, I am overwhelmed with pride: for the time being, we have offices in Montevideo, Miami, and BVI, a team greater in quantity but especially in quality, knowledge, and experience, and more clients who trust us to solve matters that can often be rather sensitive and complex.
It is our vision and values which we have never changed and never will. Having arrived at this point without betraying our beliefs, work style, and principles is greatly satisfying.
To sum up, we are no longer the same ones we were in 2011. We are much better, and we will probably keep improving.
We overcame a great first obstacle – in developing countries, 50% to 75% of new companies stop existing within three years of being created. And we went through several more. A year ago, when the covid-19 pandemic had not yet caused the social and economic damage that was to come and is still with us, an article in the Argentinian paper La Nación quoted a study sustaining that the average life expectancy of any company, large or small, national or multinational, is twelve and a half years. That is the dream and hope of companies. To exceed that figure is a utopia for most. Not for Untitled, which has already reached ten years.
As I said above, we are proud of our achievements so far, though we still wish to improve as we always strive to be better. We have a commitment with our clients and with ourselves. We need to be up to date regarding information and legal changes of the different jurisdictions and regions in which we operate and new technologies. The world changes. We change with the world. In fact, we try to anticipate those changes and to guide our clients through them.
We know why we have managed to achieve a decade and why we have much more time ahead of us. Since we started to work in Montevideo, we understood that being a boutique firm has its advantages. We do not engage in different branches of Law, we don’t sacrifice depth for breadth, but we are focused on only two areas of practice: asset structuring and the establishment of investment funds. To this end, we have a highly specialized team, well-trained and up to date, in Montevideo, Miami, and BVI. We work in a personalized way with each client, paying attention to their needs and wishes, as we are mere instruments for them to achieve their goals.
Throughout the years, we adapted ourselves to the constant changes in the world, and we have always listened to our client’s needs and expectations. That is why, in 2020, we created two specialized business lines: Sports & Entertainment for elite sportspeople and artists and Essentials, an execution service without counseling for those we already know how the offshore industry works. These new lines come to join the exclusive Legal Family Office for Ultra-High Net Worth families, and Untitled Strategic Legal Advice, with legal and fiduciary counseling for Affluent and High Net Worth clients.
You know the rest – you know us well. We have access to professional, specialized providers right where our clients need them; we charge fixed fees, we are independent, and we understand the meaning of privacy, and we protect it. We have values – and we know these values are the same as our clients’.
This is why, on this anniversary, I wanted to write these lines myself: to tell you all how proud I am of Untitled, our team, our offices, and the services we provide. Also, to tell you that, after taking a beat to have a toast to the achievements we have had for these first ten years, we will go back to giving ourselves to work entirely because we are always striving for more.
Thanks for trusting us! I promise I will not monopolize our newsletter again until we have reached another milestone justifying it.
Martín Litwak
Untitled CEO