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Rafael Pagan-Colon
Attorney, notary, business consultant, IT professional & public speaker
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Biography
Attorney-at-Law, notary, business consultant, information technology professional, executive, and manager with over 15 years’ experience in regulatory contract negotiations, compliance, business administration, business reengineering, project management, managerial consulting, and information technology management. I've issued recommendations that have provided significant economical benefits to for-profit & non-profit organizations. As an experienced public speaker, Rafael has offered seminars and workshops on such topics as powers of attorney, wills, pre-nuptial agreements, project management, risk management, & system development methodologies, among others, throughout Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela, where he also managed information technology & management consulting projects
Practice Areas
- Business Law
- Business Contracts, Business Dissolution, Business Formation, Business Litigation
- Consumer Law
- Lemon Law
- Real Estate Law
- Commercial Real Estate, Condominiums, Easements, Homeowners Association, Mortgages, Neighbor Disputes, Residential Real Estate
- Personal Injury
- Animal & Dog Bites, Construction Accidents, Premises Liability, Wrongful Death
- Probate
- Probate Litigation, Will Contests
- Foreclosure Defense
- Collections
- Divorce
- Contested Divorce, Property Division, Spousal Support & Alimony, Uncontested Divorce
- Family Law
- Adoption, Child Custody, Child Support, Father's Rights, Guardianship & Conservatorship, Prenups & Marital Agreements, Restraining Orders
- Gov & Administrative Law
- Administrative Law, Government Contracts
- Appeals & Appellate
- Civil Appeals
- Arbitration & Mediation
- Consumer - Arbitration/Mediation, Family - Arbitration/Mediation
- Animal & Dog Law
- Social Security Disability
Video Conferencing
- FaceTime
- Google Meet
- Skype
- Zoom
- Microsoft Teams
- WebEx
Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice
- Puerto Rico
- Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico
- ID Number: 19512
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Languages
- English: Spoken, Written
- Spanish: Spoken, Written
Professional Experience
- Counselor, attorney, notary public
- Pagan & Mendoza, Attorneys-at-Law and Notaries
- - Current
- >> Developed a strategic business plan for a Puerto Rico entrepreneur, including 5-year operational budget. Negotiated exclusive representation from Colombian beauty & hair-care firm, granting client exclusive rights to market & sell products in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, and the United States; Participated in the due diligence audit of a mid-sized cooperative financial institution; revised a portfolio made up of 160 mortgage loans, 21 auto loans, and 19 consumer loans for compliance with United States & Puerto Rico laws and regulations, drafted recommendations based upon the institution’s own lending policy, relevant legislation, and best business practices; Drafted resolution to incorporate profit and non-profit enterprises, defining strategies to procure tax waivers under Federal Tax Code Section 501(c)(3) for a non-profit institution. >> Areas of legal practice: Probate & Family Law, Torts, Contract Negotiations & Administration; Audit & Compliance;
- Acting Information Systems Director/Special Aide to the Research & Technology VP
- University of Puerto Rico, Central Administration
- -
- >> Supervised a staff of 42 people and an operational budget of approximately $6,435,000. Team Lead for coordinating the works of the university-wide IT Directors’ Council made up of 11 Campus Information Systems Office Directors; >> Revised and implemented the University’s system-wide Policy on the Ethical Use of Information Technology, along with corresponding standards and procedures; >> Chaired an executive university-wide committee that negotiated and justified a $2.4 Million contract to renew and improve Internet, Internet 2, and Telephone services for an institution of higher learning; duplicating overall Internet bandwidth capacity from 300 Megabits-per-second to 600 Megabits-per-second.
- Production Manager, MIS
- Suez Lyonnaise/Ondeo Puerto Rico
- -
- >> Negotiated and implemented a $3 Million purchase to upgrade to an IBM z800 Mainframe and Shark storage technology, financing the 5-month project over 3 years, for a monthly lease $35,000 down from the Data Center’s monthly original operational budget of $155,000; >> Reduced monthly operational power expense of a 3,200 square feet mainframe data center by 48%, achieving $35,000 in monthly savings, down from an initial monthly power expense of $155,000; >> Chaired a CEO-sponsored committee, reporting directly to the CEO, as part of a corporate business process re-engineering effort to identify and recommend business improvements to the company’s Executive Committee; >> Served on infrastructure team to implement a $1.1 Million client server platform to support a corporate-wide SAP implementation project.
- Deputy Director, Information Systems
- Vivendi Environnement / Puerto Rico Water Company
- -
- >> Defined a strategic overview for evolving the Information Technology function within the company over the next 10 years. Included budget, policy and organizational changes in the short-, mid- and long-term; >> Administered an $8.5 Million budget to improve communications networks and computing technology to state-of-the-art specifications and implement corporate access to Internet and E-Mail to over 600 people; >> Managed a $4.5 Million budget to lead Year 2000 (Y2K) efforts to successfully implement Mainframe-based Y2K-ready financial and commercial applications. Achieved implementation of the Commercial and Billing application a full month ahead of schedule. All other applications were implemented on time and within budget; >> Redesigned the process by which a public utility corporation acquires and controls consumption of chemical products. Contracted and led efforts to develop a web-based application to run over an Intranet.
- Senior Consultant
- James Martin & Co., Inc
- -
- >> Reduced time required by a Health Management Organization to issue 2,000+ W-2 forms from 2 people-weeks to a single day by re-engineering and streamlining the organization’s processes and available technology; >> For a multi-million dollar Venezuelan oil company, led efforts to establish a preliminary information architecture for the company’s gas division. Model encompassed 70 major business functions and close to 120 data types. The architecture was raised within a two-week time frame, working alongside the Vice Presidents of its five major subdivisions: Planning, Marketing, Transmission and Distribution, Engineering, and Processing. Executive Joint Requirements Planning sessions were the primary technique for collecting information supplemented by analysis of the subdivisions goals, critical success factors, and information needs.
Education
- University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras
- J.D. (2011) | Law
- -
- Honors: Cum Laude
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- University of Phoenix
- MBA (2007) | Business Administration, Technology Management
- -
- Honors: GPA 4.0
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- University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras
- B.B.A. (1984) | Business Administration, Computer Information Systems
- -
- Honors: Magna Cum Laude
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Professional Associations
- La Rama Judicial de Puerto Rico # 18691
- Member
- Current
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- Pro Bono, Inc. # 19512
- Lawyer
- - Current
- Activities: Provide free legal services to low income individuals, through the Puerto Rico Bar College's affiliation with Pro Bono, Inc.
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- Puerto Rico Notary College # 4551
- Notary
- - Current
- Activities: Through the College's "Notaries for Puerto Rico" program, provide free notary services to low income persons.
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- Puerto Rico Bar College (Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico) # 19512
- Member
- - Current
- Activities: Member of the College's Veteran's Affairs Commission since 2013. The Commission provides counseling to veterans of the United States Armed Forces and has worked towards refining and/or proposing legislation that improves quality of life for veterans living on the island.
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Publications
Articles & Publications
- Quis Custodiat Custodium? Corporate Oversight Through Derivative Action
- 2 No. 1 U. Puerto Rico Bus. L.J. 35 (2011)
Speaking Engagements
- Powers of attorney & Wills: Legal Manifestations of the will, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
- Torrimar Methodist Church
- Marital Pre-Nups: From Inmutability to Relative Flexibility, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Powers of Attorney: Legal Empowerment of People, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
- Torrimar Methodist Church
- Ethical Use of Technology, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- University of Puerto Rico, Central Administration
- Project Administration & Control, Bayamon, Puerto Rico
- Inter American University
Certifications
- Certified Data Professional
- American Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals
Legal Answers
169 Questions Answered
- Q. My grandparents passed away over 20 ago and in their will they stated that the home would belong to one of my uncles
- A: You need to verify the real estate property's status in the Puerto Rico Property Registry: were your grandparents' wills filed to transfer ownership to their children (your father, aunts, and uncles)? Assuming that the transfer was completed, an adjudication deed would've need to be subscribed by all the heirs to leave the house to one of them. If any of the heirs have since been deceased, either wills or declarations of heirs will need to be procured from the courts to update the list of heirs entitled to the property before it can be sold.
- Q. Pension alimentaria a joven de 18 que no estudia.
- A: En Puerto Rico, todo joven menor de 21 años se considera menor de edad; y, por lo tanto, acreedor a pensión alimentaria. Si la pensión es a través de ASUME o fue establecida por orden del tribunal, aún si llega a los 21 años, la suspensión de la pensión no es automática; y requiere que acuda al tribunal para que sea suspendida.
- Q. My dad wants to donated his house to me and my 2 sibling are in agreement. Do I have to pay any kind of taxes?
- A: Any real estate property located in Puerto Rico that does not constitute your primary residence is subject to property taxes. If the property currently belongs to your father and is his primary residence, he may have requested a tax exemption from the Municipal Income Collections Center ("CRIM", by its Spanish acronym) which will allow him to legitimately avoid paying taxes, so long as the real estate property is $150,000 or less. If he donates to his children, he can retain the right to use and habitation of the real estate property for the rest of his life, in which case, he can still enjoy the exemption.
Nevertheless, should he move, or, upon his demise, the property remains ... Read More
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