About

Number of years practice: 18 Law school attended: Columbia Law School Languages spoken: English and Spanish Principal practice areas: Cross-border Corporate Finance, M&A Admissions: New York

Juan Francisco Méndez’s practice primarily focuses on advising leading companies and investment banks throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. While his work therefore covers numerous Spanish-speaking countries, Méndez has a particular fondness for working in Mexico, which he says is partly a result of having spent so much time working in the country (initially as an associate under one of his Simpson Thacher mentors, retired partner Glenn Reiter, and eventually as a partner himself). Over the years he has worked on transactions with América Móvil, including as designated underwriters’ counsel in multiple bond offerings by the company; and provided New York representation to Macquarie Mexico FIBRA and Prologis Mexico FIBRA in their respective formations and IPOs. More broadly, Méndez has worked on a wide range of equity, high yield and investment grade debt, and hybrid securities transactions, as well as restructurings, liability management transactions, acquisitions, joint ventures, syndicated loans and acquisition financings. He is a member of the International Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. What are your predictions for change in the US-Mexico relationship? I believe the US-Mexico relationship is extraordinarily deep as a result of NAFTA and the geographic proximity of the two countries (for example in the manufacturing sector) and I hope that those trends continue. Are there any aspects of the Mexican legal market that you would like to see change? I hope that trends towards rule of law, transparency, legal certainty and anti-corruption, in which Mexico has already made significant strides, continue. Is there a key economic factor or trend you regard as likely to impact the Mexican legal sector over the next 18 months? The most obvious factor to me is whether there will be significant effects resulting from any new trade and immigration policies with the new administration in the United States. Are there any sectors you regard as likely growth areas for the Mexican market over the next five years? I think the energy sector continues to be the Mexican sector most poised to grow.