About

Number of years practice: 17 Law school attended: Georgetown University Law Center Languages spoken: English and Spanish (proficient) Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Corporate, M&A Admissions: New York

What have been three of your career highlights in Mexico to date? I have been involved in a number of market-leading and award-winning pieces of work over the course of my career, for example: • Represented Goldman Sachs and Santander in connection with the offering of $400m of 4.875% Senior Notes of Gruma, S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican food company. • Represented Offshore Drilling Holding S.A., a Mexico focused offshore drilling company sponsored by Grupo R, a leading provider of oilfield services in Mexico, in connection with its offering of $950m of 8.375% Senior Secured Notes due 2020. • Represented RDS Ultra-Deepwater, Ltd., a finance subsidiary of a Grupo R project company formed to acquire and operate an oil rig, in connection with its offering of $270m of 11.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2017. What differentiates your practice from that of other private practice lawyers? I have a broad capital markets practice that is not specifically focused on one particular product, industry or region. The breadth and depth of my experience allows me to provide innovative legal solutions for my clients. Why has Mexico been a particularly strong focus for you? Clifford Chance has a long-standing, strong track record in Mexico, not only in capital markets but also in M&A and finance. During the course of my career, I have worked hard to build upon these existing strengths and to further expand our capabilities and develop our Mexican relationships. What are your predictions for change in the US-Mexico relationship? There is still a lot of uncertainty as to how aggressively President Trump will pursue his campaign promises regarding international trade. It seems likely that aspects of NAFTA will in fact be renegotiated given Mr. Trump’s plans to renegotiate the treaty during the first 100 days and President Peña Nieto’s and Prime Minister Trudeau’s expressed interest in updating aspects of the deal. However, it is difficult to imagine the United States fully withdrawing from NAFTA given the sheer volume of trade between the two countries. Regardless of whether NAFTA is renegotiated or undone, I expect Mexico to pursue bilateral deals to diversify its trade partners and reduce its dependence on the US economy. From an immigration perspective, it appears that Mr. Trump is largely committed to his campaign proposals. I expect most of the immigration related executive actions taken by President Obama will be undone during Mr. Trump’s term, and I think we can expect generally a tougher enforcement regime and less immigrant protections. Is there a key economic factor or trend you regard as likely to impact the Mexican legal sector over the next 18 months? The current uncertainty over the future relationship between Mexico and the United States will likely be the key trend affecting the Mexican market generally over the next 18 months, which will impact parties’ willingness to engage in cross-border transactions involving Mexico. As an example, in the capital markets space, many of the deals that were scheduled to occur after the election were put on hold until at least the first quarter of 2017 to see what measures the new US administration pursues. Although market participants are waiting for the uncertainty and volatility to stabilize, I do not believe the current inactivity is permanent and my view is that deal flow will return within the next 18 months. All of this uncertainty naturally impacts the law firms that regularly advise on Mexican cross-border deals. Are there any sectors you regard as likely growth areas for the Mexican market over the next five years? There is a strong possibility that Mexico’s wide-ranging energy reform will begin to revitalize the sector, stimulating private investment and related financing. The industry has faced challenges since the reforms were adopted, including Mexico’s economy continuing to reduce its oil dependence, declining oil prices, significant budget cuts at Pemex, and reduced oil production. Hopefully, during the next five years, those trends will reverse. In particular, there has been a fair amount of cautious optimism about the ability of the FIBRA-E structure to provide a capital markets solution to encourage investment into both the energy and infrastructure sectors. In 2016, the first FIBRA-E successfully completed a domestic IPO. This is an important step in the development of this market and should help facilitate the sponsorship of additional vehicles.