Herman Duarte

Book a meeting with attorney Herman Duarte, specialist in investment and immigration law.

Book a meeting with attorney Herman Duarte, specialist in investment and immigration law in Costa Rica

Herman Duarte is an international attorney specialized in private client advisory, with a focus on wealth migration including investor, rentista, pensioner, and digital nomad categories, as well as high-value strategic advisory. He is the founder of Simple Legal Consulting, a boutique law firm assisting investors, entrepreneurs, and global families with relocation, investment, and asset structuring in Costa Rica.

Originally from El Salvador & Switzerland and now proudly Costa Rican after more than 14 years in the country, Herman combines technical excellence with a practical, first-hand understanding of the challenges involved in building a life, structuring assets, and investing in a new jurisdiction.

His practice is grounded in a simple principle: transforming complex legal, financial, and immigration processes into clear, efficient, and manageable solutions. Through a structured and strategic approach, he advises international clients on investments, corporate structuring, succession and wealth planning, real estate due diligence, financing and acquisitions, immigration and relocation, as well as dispute resolution in Costa Rica. This allows his clients to focus on their objectives while he manages the complexity. He has advised hundreds of international clients in structuring and executing their projects in the country.

Through Simple Legal Consulting, he offers a fully integrated end-to-end model that serves as a central coordination point for private clients, combining legal advisory, operational execution, and strategic guidance. His services include corporate formation, real estate due diligence, contract negotiation, regulatory compliance, and immigration across all categories, including investor, rentista, pensioner, digital nomad, executive, and family-based residency.

A key pillar of his practice is the integration of banking and financial solutions, assisting clients with opening local and international bank accounts, structuring compliant capital flows, and coordinating financing for real estate acquisitions and investment projects.

Herman holds an LLM from Stockholm University and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science as a Chevening Scholar. He is the author of two books and more than two hundred opinion columns, and has been recognized as one of the lawyers recommended by the British Embassy in Costa Rica, an exceptional distinction in a country with over 40,000 attorneys.

His practice is defined by discretion, precision, and a strategic, results-oriented approach, positioning him as a trusted advisor for clients seeking not only legal services, but a comprehensive strategy to establish, protect, and optimize their presence in Costa Rica.