Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal - 100 Años

In 1923, two brothers, Juan and Enrique de Marval, founded the firm under the name J.A. & E. de Marval. When Reginald Huntington, an English attorney, joined the firm as partner in the 1930s, we changed our name to Marval, Huntington & Marval. Later, Juan de Marval left the firm and his brother Enrique brought in new partners: Augusto Rodríguez Larreta and Jorge O'Farrell; and the name was changed to Marval, Rodríguez Larreta & O'Farrell. Rodríguez Larreta passed away in 1948, and the firm was renamed Marval & O'Farrell. This was its name until Hector Mairal joined as partner in 1991. From then on, our name has been Marval O’Farrell Mairal.

“At that time, we decided to implement a very strong branding strategy and put the name Marval before the name of the individual partners,” says a retired partner and protagonist of the name change. This has given us a significant advantage over our competitors, who wrestle with partner names. Our strategy over the last 15 or 20 years has been that the first name a client thinks of when they need legal services in Argentina is simply Marval.

“When I was young and living in Paris with my father, I had to make a decision: stay in Europe or go back to Argentina and become a lawyer. I decided to go back to Argentina.” (Jorge O’Farrell).

Juan Cambiaso, a now-retired partner, who worked with Jorge O’Farrell says Jorge’s calling to be a lawyer has to have been very strong! “When Jorge walked into any room, no matter where he was, you could tell he played in higher league. He was just that kind of guy,” adds Juan.

Jorge O’Farrell was born in Buenos Aires in 1915. He had attended elementary school in Paris, and high school at Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires. In 1938, he graduated law school from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and joined the firm.

In 1948, Rodríguez Larreta died, and, shortly after, so did Enrique de Marval. Jorge O’Farrell found himself alone at the firm’s helm. He was only 32 years old. From that moment on, Jorge reshaped what had started as a patent and trademark agency–and which was very well positioned in the market already–into one of the most important law firms in Latin America. Managing a firm in an unstable country was extremely challenging, but Jorge was up to the challenge. When he died at the age of 85, the firm had already taken on a momentous size.”