Juan T. O'Naghten Bio

Founding Partner & Cross-Border Transaction Specialist

Juan T. O'Naghten

E: Juan@onaghtenbrothers.com T: +1 (786) 888-6501 DM: Linkedin

Juan T. O’Naghten is a seasoned attorney specializing in structuring complex real estate, financial, and commercial transactions for closely held businesses. With decades of experience as general counsel and lead outside counsel, Juan has guided major real estate developers, hotel operators, banks, airlines, telecom providers, and securities brokers through trans-border capital flows and multijurisdictional growth. His career began in the 1980s with Eurodollar bond offerings and evolved into overseeing sophisticated project finance structures across Latin America.

His expertise extends to the acquisition and realization of value in impaired assets, as well as structuring the entry of foreign enterprises into the U.S. and the expansion of U.S. companies abroad, managing internal legal teams across multiple jurisdictions with over 30 in-house attorneys.

Juan played a pivotal role in shaping Florida’s business and legal landscape as a lead draftsman of the Florida Limited Liability Company Act (1982)—making Florida the second state in the U.S. to adopt LLCs—and the Florida International Arbitration Act (1986), establishing Florida as the first state with an arbitration act tailored to international disputes.

With significant experience in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and Spain, Juan excels at using U.S. and international treaty networks to craft financially and tax-efficient solutions for clients, from transaction structuring to dispute resolution.

Beyond law, he has served as a Board Member for many enterprises, spanning the gamut from real estate development and financial services to healthcare and telecommunications services .  He has extensive ties in the South Florida community having served as Trustee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Catholic Community Services (now Catholic Charities of the Archdioceses of Miami), Member of the Executive Committee of the Cuba Study Group, Member of the University of Miami Citizen’s Board, among many others.  In particular, he has worked for 50 years with the Order of Malta, both in South Florida and internationally, reflecting his deep commitment to humanitarian efforts, particularly for Cuba’s elderly.

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Juan earned a BA, summa cum laude, from Biscayne College (now St. Thomas University) and a JD, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law.

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