About

Number of years practice: 21 Law school attended: University of Miami School of Law Languages spoken: English, Portuguese and Spanish Principal practice areas: International Arbitration, Litigation Admissions: Florida and US Court of Appeals (Eleventh Circuit)

What have been a few recent highlights of your work? • Defending Pemex Exploración y Producción against a petition to confirm a $300m Mexican ICC arbitral award nullified by the Mexican courts. • Representing a global technology company in a $4bn ICC arbitration arising out of an IT-services agreement with a telecommunications company. • Representing Siemens in arbitration proceedings related to a $2bn power generation facility in the United States. • Representing a South American government entity in an ICC dispute related to a long-term water supply and collateral services concession contract. • Representing a Dominican power company in IACAC arbitration proceedings concerning the construction of LNG dock facilities in the Dominican Republic. • Representing a Salvadoran telecommunications company in ICDR arbitration proceedings over disputes concerning inter­connection agreements. What differentiates your practice from that of other private practice lawyers? In my practice, I bring value to clients by creatively addressing their needs whether it be case management, billing, availability, and creative solutions to their legal issues. It is about being business savvy so that clients not only understand the legal implications of the matter, but also the business repercussions and opportunities. This requires a full understanding of the client’s needs and operations, which are separate from an understanding of the legal issues. Why has Mexico been a particularly strong focus for you? Mexico has demonstrated significant growth over the last decade. Mexico has a growing middle class and young population that is growing exponentially, reforms have been ushered in by the current administration that are favorable to investors, and significant investments have been made in the area of energy and infrastructure development, all of which create opportunities in the country. Have you held any positions of relevance outside of private practice? I am currently the President of the Hispanic National Bar Foundation (HNBF), an organization aimed at helping Hispanics achieve their potential through access to higher education and to increase diversity in the legal profession. Through various programs, the HNBF addresses many such barriers by offering information about the college financing preparation, application, and process, support with college and law school admissions tests, scholarships, fellowships, internships, and access to role models and mentors who have gone to college and law school. What are your predictions for change in the US-Mexico relationship? We will need to take a “wait and see” approach on this as the new US administration takes office. Given the new administration’s emphasis on careful review of trade agreements, this area in US-Mexico relations may be the first one to see changes. Is there a key economic factor or trend you regard as likely to impact the Mexican legal sector over the next 18 months? Foreign investment into Mexico, and its response to the new US administration, will need to be watched closely. This has the potential to create unforeseen disputes in contractual agreements should investments need to be altered in order to maximize on profitability. Are there any sectors you regard as likely growth areas for the Mexican market over the next five years? The oil and gas industry, since its opening up to foreign direct investment in 2014, is an area of tremendous growth for Mexico. At the end of 2016, eight of the 10 deepwater blocks in the Gulf of Mexico were awarded to companies such as BHP Billiton, China National Offshore Oil Corp., Statoil, Chevron, and BP, among others. Total capital investment for this round is estimated at $4bn; a significant commitment to the exploration of hydrocarbons for Mexico.