ATTORNEYS PROFILES

 

Rosa María Cruz-Niemiec has been counseling and litigating for more than thirty years, mostly in the areas of Civil & Commercial Litigation, Labor & Employment Law in both the private and public Sector, Personnel Policies Law, ERISA Litigation, Franchise, Distribution & Representative Contract Laws, Arbitration, Contract Law, Torts, Insurance Law & Litigation, Civil Rights, Administrative Law & Government Bid Proceedings, Product Liability, and Corporate Litigation.  

Mrs. Cruz-Niemiec obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Political Science, magna cum laude, in 1985, and her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, in 1988, both from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. After obtaining her Juris Doctor, she was law clerk to the Hon. Magistrate-Judge Justo Arenas, U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, from 1988 to 1989, and worked extensively on the Dupont Hotel Fire case, the largest mass-disaster litigation in the history of the United States. In 1989, she joined Goldman & Antonetti as an Associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department. 

In 1992, she began working at McConnell Valdés, where she was named Partner in 1994. While at McConnell Valdés, she worked extensively in the L-Tryptophan multi-district tort litigation and the tobacco litigation, among other product liability matters. In September 1997, Mrs. Cruz-Niemiec joined Schuster Usera Aguiló & Santiago, where she worked in different employment law matters as well as in commercial litigation matters such as the mass-disaster 1996 Río Piedras explosion litigation. Afterwards, she rendered services to the Civil Action and Education Corporation, mostly in Civil Rights Litigation. In late 1999, she co-founded the law firm of Cruz Niemiec & Vázquez. Additionally, she has been an Outside Legal Counsel for the Office of Courts Administration of the Judicial Branch of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico since 2005 and for the Municipality of San Juan, Capital City of Puerto Rico, from 2013 to 2021. 

Mrs. Cruz-Niemiec has practiced extensively before the Puerto Rico and federal courts, both at the trial and appellate levels. She is admitted to practice law before the Courts of Puerto Rico, the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and before the Supreme Court of the United States. She is also a Notary Public.  

Mrs. Cruz-Niemiec was an Adjunct Professor at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law from 2002 to 2007 and a Certified Public Arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) from 2002-2010.  

 

Luis Enrique Vázquez-Rodríguez, graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center with a Master of Laws degree in Labor and Employment Law in May 1998.  At that time, he joined the law firm of Schuster Usera Aguiló & Santiago as an Associate and remained there until late 1999, when he co-founded the law firm of Cruz Niemiec & Vázquez.  Mr. Vázquez received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Communication, magna cum laude, in 1993 from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.  He obtained his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law in 1996 and was the Editor-in-Chief of its Law Review during his third year of Law School (1995-1996).  Also, while attending his third year of Law School, Mr. Vázquez worked as a law clerk in the law firm of Martínez Odell & Calabria.  Mr. Vázquez commenced his professional career as Judicial Clerk for the late Judge José M. Aponte Jiménez, of the Puerto Rico Circuit Court of Appeals, where he remained until August 1997.

For more than twenty-five years, Mr. Vázquez has worked closely with local and federal statutes regulating employment, such as TITLE VII, ADEA, ADA, ERISA, FLSA, FMLA, and OSHA, as well as in general litigation and contractual matters, including Insurance Law, Administrative Law, Torts, and Government Bid Proceedings.  Mr. Vázquez also has experience in Alternative Dispute Resolution methods in Labor and Employment Law. Furthermore, he has been an Outside Legal Counsel for the Department of Labor & Human Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (2001-2009, 2013-2016)  (“Department of Labor”);  the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board (2003-2008);  the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (2013-2016);  and for the Municipality of San Juan, Capital City of Puerto Rico (2013-2021). 

Mr. Vázquez has worked extensively in Labor & Employment Law matters in both the private and public sectors.  In addition to his litigation experience, he has defended employers from discrimination charges filed before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”)  and other administrative forums.  Additionally, he has represented public sector employers in appeals filed before the Public Service Appellate Commission of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (“CASP,” by its Spanish acronym),  as well as in union election campaigns, unfair labor practice charges, and mediation and arbitration proceedings before various administrative forums. 

Mr. Vázquez has also served as Hearing Examiner in employment disciplinary proceedings for the Department of Labor and the Judicial Branch of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as in regulatory matters, including the Department of Labor’s revision of Mandatory Decrees and Occupational Safety & Health (OSHA)  regulations.  In July 2004, Mr. Vázquez was appointed by the Office of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as Special Arbitrator for issues arising under the Employment Security Act of Puerto Rico.  In March 2005, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Human Resources Office certified Mr. Vázquez as a collective bargaining negotiator and was designated as the Negotiation Committee’s Spokesman for the Department of Labor, in its first collective bargaining negotiations.