Carlton Fields Bolsters Insurance and International Practices; Adds Diverse Legal Team of Tom Morante and Yani Contreras
Miami, Fla. – Carlton Fields is pleased to announce that Thomas F. Morante and Yani R. Contreras have joined Carlton Fields, bringing decades of experience in U.S. and international insurance regulatory and transactional matters. They are members of Carlton Fields’ Financial Services Regulatory Practice Group and its Life, Annuity, and Retirement Solutions Industry Group.
Morante, who maintains offices in Miami and Washington, D.C., will lead the firm’s International Insurance Regulatory Team. Building on Carlton Fields’ extensive capabilities in insurance, financial services, and international law, this team of attorneys and consultants handles foreign insurance regulatory, compliance, and transactional matters.
“Tom is an excellent lawyer who has worked with a number of Carlton Fields attorneys over the years, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the firm,” said Carlton Fields Miami Shareholder Ann Y. Black, co-chair of Carlton Fields’ Life, Annuity, and Retirement Solutions Industry Group.
“Tom and Yani bring a wealth of experience in regulatory matters, particularly cross-border and foreign country work, which augments our existing deep bench in financial services,” added Ann Began Furman, who co-chairs the firm’s Financial Services Regulatory Practice Group.
“Tom’s exceptional skills and dedication to his clients enhance our existing team of talent and domestic and international services we provide,” said Steven J. Brodie, Carlton Fields’ Property and Casualty Insurance Industry Group chair and Miami office co-managing shareholder.
For more than 30 years, Morante has counseled clients in U.S. and foreign insurance matters. His clients rely on him to help them navigate an increasingly complex global regulatory and technology-driven environment. Morante advises insurance and reinsurance companies; captive insurers; insurance agents, brokers, and wholesalers; and investment funds and fund managers.
“Carlton Fields offers a full-service platform to address the needs of my U.S. and international insurance and financial services clients,” Morante said. “The firm is a one-stop shop for services in a broad range of relevant and complementary areas, including tax, securities, M&A, private wealth, data privacy law, cybersecurity, blockchain, cybersecurity, government relations, regulatory enforcement, and anti-money laundering, and anti-corruption legislation.”
In addition to his work for U.S. companies, Morante handles regulatory compliance, transactional, and enforcement matters abroad. He is fluent in Spanish and studied in Colombia, Mexico, and Spain. Morante regularly assists insurance clients in the development of offshore life insurance, annuities, and investment products in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and other jurisdictions. He provides counsel on the foreign laws implicated in the distribution and cross-border sale of insurance products, with an emphasis on Latin America and Asia, and also advises U.S. insurers with respect to establishing operations in various foreign countries.
Morante chairs the ABA Business Law Section’s International Coordinating Committee and serves on the board of advisors of Inter-American Dialogue’s Financial Services Advisor publication. He earned his LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center; his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law; and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Union College.
Contreras is a consultant whose practice focuses on international regulatory and transactional matters, particularly for insurance and financial services clients. She has extensive experience in life insurance and annuities, health insurance, travel insurance, surplus lines, and reinsurance.
Contreras is a licensed attorney in Mexico. She is fluent in Spanish and works on matters involving Latin America, particularly Mexico, as well as the Caribbean, Europe, and some Asian countries.
She earned her LL.M., with honors, from Northwestern University School of Law, and her J.D. from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
Morante and Contreras arrive from the law firm Kaufman Dolowich Voluck.
