Holland & Knight

Holland & Knight

Region Area

About

Holland & Knight is one the most prominent international law firms in Mexico and Colombia, having strengthened its existing practices with the recent addition of 45 lawyers in Latin America. Early in 2023, the firm added attorneys from Sánchez DeVanny in its Mexico City and Monterrey offices, along with a group of lawyers from Colombian firm Cuberos Cortés Guitérrez (CCG). The latest additions are coupled with the firm's earlier combination with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, which including adding more than 280 attorneys in the U.S.

The Latin America growth has helped to further expand the firm's existing corporate, healthcare, litigation, arbitration, labor, tax, infrastructure projects, private equity, financial services, real estate and environmental, social and governance practices, while also broadening our capabilities with new practice areas, such as insolvency and government procurement.

This is a transformational moment in the history of our firm's Latin American practice. Our expansion strategy and ever-growing business portfolio doubled our attorney headcount and visibility in the region during the last few years. To meet our client's dynamic needs, Holland & Knight has appointed Partner Raul Cosio as co-chair of the Latin America practice. Cosio will share the responsibility of managing the group along with Partner Roberto Pupo, who has overseen the group's growth for more than a decade.

With these new additions, Holland & Knight has almost 70 attorneys in Mexico and slightly more than 70 attorneys in Colombia. Our Latin America offices are staffed with a local and highly talented group of lawyers who have enabled us to build and expand our presence in both countries. These offices have diversified and one-stop-shop practice area offerings, with distinguished strength in transactional and contentious work noted in many leading industry publications.

The Bogotá office is led by partner and native Colombian Enriquez Gómez-Pinzón, who has a strong profile at home and internationally, and he has led some of the most relevant financings and privatizations in the last 30 years. The Mexico City office is led by Luis Rubio Barnetche, a well-known and respected member of the Mexican legal community who pioneered the dispute resolution practice under Chapter XIX of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He was a member of the team that negotiated NAFTA on behalf of the Mexican government. Our Monterrey office is under the leadership of Gabriel Ruiz, who also leads our internationally recognized Mexico Energy Practice Group and has counseled major international energy companies developing projects in Mexico.

As global concern continues to increasingly skew toward renewable energy, electrification, and food and water security, Latin America poses to be a region of great global significance and is in good stead for the future. Our attorneys have become key stakeholders of the legal industry by targeting new and often neglected sources of work, such as servicing clients investing in infrastructure and project financing work as well as nearshoring companies' operations and their supply chains to Latin America. The region's economies are attractive for investment, particularly in the more modern and sophisticated markets of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Additionally, Latin America is home to several of the world-leading agricultural markets. Our attorneys have extensive experience representing companies, associations, coalitions and tribes spanning the entire food and agriculture spectrum in Latin America.

The firm's international platform and its particular focus on Latin America have enabled our team to fully develop an in-depth practice roster and offer one of the more comprehensive and robust set of legal services to clients in the market, especially those with interests in the U.S.