Mexico’s June 2024 presidential election saw the election of the country’s first woman president in Claudia Sheinbaum, marking the end of the tenure of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. It is a continuation in rule for Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena). In a landslide 33-point victory Sheinbaum defeated Xóchitl Gálvez, candidate for the Frente Amplio por México alliance (composed of members of the PAN, PRI and PRD) and Movimiento Ciudadano candidate Jorge Máynez. Her recorded vote count is the highest for a single presidential candidate in the country’s electoral record. She was officially sworn in to the role on October 1st 2024.
The period leading up to the elections was largely one of anticipatory stasis. AMLO had often found himself in opposition to the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of many of his desired reforms and once the end of his tenure was in sight, much was sidelined and left to wait for the new president. Legislative changes in 2024 were practically non-existent due to the impending vote, which from the lawyers and their clients’ perspective was seen as a boon in corporate and M&A law, with US investors encouraged by the short-term landscape of calm and lack of what they see as “arbitrary changes”.
Economically Mexico has continued to be a beneficiary of various disruptive global issues, and the near-shoring phenomenon: the re-location of businesses that had previously established themselves in locations with low overheads, to those nearer the key US market. This process continues – to drive much of the corporate M&A and real estate activity on which private-practice legal activity has been focused.
Looking directly at the law landscape in the country, summer 2024 has seen two major mergers that both saw Spanish firms making significant moves in the jurisdiction. Pérez-Llorca has elected to make a move into the market, absorbing González Calvillo, a local firm that had built a robust presence across a number of practice areas. The other major merger to note saw Garrigues Mexico, which had previously had a small but notable presence in the Mexican market, take over Sánchez Devanny, home to several strong teams, particularly in banking and finance, and tax.
Other international developments saw DWF launch a Latin America practice (as of September 2024) co-led by the Madrid-based Ignasi Costas and Lisbon-based Mexican energy specialist Claudio Rodríguez-Galán; and rumours also abound of the imminent departure of one of the US firms that currently has an on-the-ground presence in México.
Alongside international developments there were some interesting moves to note in several practice areas. Sainz Abogados took a ten-strong group from González Calvillo (prior to its merger into Pérez-Llorca), which included the co-heads of its corporate and M&A offering José Victor Torres Gómez and Daniel Guaida; competition law expert Cristina Massa; and energy law partner Diana Pineda Esteban. In tax, Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez, S.C. saw the departure of former practice head Alejandro Santoyo; he has subsequently joined Ritch, Mueller y Nicolau, S.C.; while Galicia Abogados S.C. bolstered an already stellar practice by bringing in a former magistrate of the Tribunal Federal de Justicia Fiscal y Administrativa, Paola Yaber. Nader, Hayaux y Goebel, SC also strengthened its contentious tax capability, hiring former Hogan Lovells‘s counsel Francisco Palmero as a partner in September 2024. Galicia would subsequently see the departure of veteran partner and banking and finance practice co-head Humberto Pérez Rocha, who joined Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa in September 2024.
The broader market picture has leading full-service powerhouses Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez, S.C. and Galicia Abogados S.C. continue to reap the rewards of their efforts towards great institutionalisation over the last decade. A corporate model underscores Nader, Hayaux y Goebel, SC’s solid offering, while Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes S.C. remains firmly entrenched at the top of the market. Ritch, Mueller y Nicolau, S.C. may have weakened in corporate and energy recently but it remains a destination firm for banking, finance and capital markets work. Greenberg Traurig, S.C. continues to build its profile in Mexico, while Von Wobeser y Sierra, SC is still especially strong in dispute resolution. Hogan Lovells is steadily closing the gap to some of the market’s leaders, and other international firms White & Case S.C. and Baker McKenzie Abogados, S.C. also remain forces to be reckoned with, along with Holland & Knight’s growing team. Longstanding, multi-office full service corporate players Basham, Ringe y Correa, S.C. and Santamarina y Steta also retain a healthy market share and profile.
The country also houses a number of upper mid-market firms with a broad service offering: from tax heavyweights Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa, which has strived to broaden its business law offering, to Meritas Law Firms Worldwide alliance-member, Cuesta Campos y Asociados S.C.. Sector-specialist and boutique firms play a key role in several of the Mexican market’s key practice areas. Turanzas, Bravo & Ambrosi and C&C Asesores are among standouts of their kind in the tax sector; Malpica, Iturbe, Buj y Paredes, S.C. and Martínez, Algaba, de Haro y Curiel remain leading lights across dispute resolution, even as some of the the leading full service corporate players contest the field; Vázquez Tercero & Zepeda and SAI Derecho & Economía S.C are long standing names for international trade matters; as are Arochi & Lindner, SC, Olivares and Uhthoff, Gómez Vega & Uhthoff, SC in IP; and Sainz Abogados, Del Castillo y Castro Abogados or Guerra, Hidalgo y Mendoza (GHM) for bankruptcy and restructuring.
Since publication, Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes S.C. has hired Jaqueline Aranda (as counsel) to lead the firm's new international trade and customs practice; Aranda - who joined the firm in November 2024 -has over 20 years' experience including periods at both Baker McKenzie Abogados, S.C. and Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa.