Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico 2019
Partner | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 13 Principal practice areas: Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Capital Markets, Leveraged and Acquisition Finance, Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures, Project Finance, and Infrastructure Bar admissions: New York...
Partner | Holland & Knight LLP
Number of years practice: 30 Principal practice areas: Corporate, M&A, Joint Ventures, Business Transactions Bar admissions: Texas, Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from those of...
Senior associate | Clifford Chance US LLP
Number of years practice: 8 Principal practice areas: Banking and Finance, Energy and Infrastructure Bar admissions: New York, Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish Alan Sakar Azuara is a dual Mexican-US...
Senior Associate | Clifford Chance US LLP
Number of years practice: 12 Principal practice areas: Project Finance Bar admissions: New York, Washington D.C., Peru Languages spoken: English, Spanish Alberto Haito has an outstanding record advising various financial...
Partner | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Number of years practice: 20+ Principal practice areas: Banking and Capital Markets Bar admissions: New York, Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish Alejandro González Lazzeri plays a major role in the...
Partner | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: Project Development and Finance Bar admissions: New York/United Mexican States Languages spoken: English, Spanish Alexandro M. Padrés believes Mexico is a foundation...
Partner | Milbank
Principal practice areas: Projects, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Bar admissions: California Allan T. Marks routinely represents developers, investors, lenders, and underwriters in the development and financing of complex infrastructure projects...
Partner – Chair of the Mexico Desk | Squire Patton Boggs
Number of years practice: 24 Principal practice areas: Global Infrastructure Projects; Energy and Natural Resources; Mergers and Acquisitions Bar admissions: Washington DC Languages spoken: English, Spanish Álvaro José Mestre is...
Of Counsel | DLA Piper
Number of years practice: 12 Principal practice areas: Project Finance Bar admissions: Columbia, Maryland, New York Languages spoken: English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Spanish Amala Nath has over a decade of...
Partner, Head of the Latin America affinity group, Americas Regional Managing Partner | Shearman & Sterling LLP
Number of years practice: 31 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Shearman & Sterling’s regional managing partner for the Americas, head of the...
Partner | Latham & Watkins LLP
Number of years practice: 24 Principal practice areas: M&A, private equity, projects and energy Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Antonio Del Pino, global co-chair of Latham &...
Shareholder | Greenberg Traurig P.A.
Number of years practice: 13 Principal practice areas: Mergers and Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Private Equity, Financing Transactions, Corporate Governance Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese Antonio Peña represented a power marketer...
Partner | Proskauer Rose LLP
Principal practice areas: Corporate finance, Capital markets Bar admissions: New York, São Paulo Languages spoken: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian Head of Proskauer Rose LLP’s São Paulo office, and based in Brazil...
Partner | White & Case
Number of years practice: 17 Principal practice areas: Corporate, finance Bar admissions: New York, Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish Based in White & Case’s New York office, partner Armando Rivera...
Partner | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 22 Principal practice areas: Corporate Finance; Capital Markets; Banking; M&A Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Italian Notable recent cases for Arturo Carrillo include...
Associate | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 13 Principal practice areas: Project Development and Finance Bar admissions: New York, Peru Languages spoken: English, Spanish Augusto Ruiloba is a native Spanish-speaking associate in the...
Partner | Dechert LLP
Number of years practice: 10 Principal practice areas: Corporate and M&A Bar admissions: District of Columbia Languages spoken: English, Portuguese Bernardo L. Piereck is a partner at Dechert and represents...
Partner | White & Case
Principal practice areas: Capital markets Bar admissions: New York, Colombia Languages spoken: English, Portuguese, Spanish Based in New York, Bibiana Jaimes is a highly-skilled capital markets expert whose central focus...
Partner | Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher
Number of years practice: 20+ Principal practice areas: Capital Markets and Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance Bar admissions: New York A member of the capital markets and securities regulation and...
Partner | Vinson & Elkins LLP
Number of years practice: 35 Principal practice areas: Cross-border energy transactions (principally in Latin America) Bar admissions: California, Texas, New York and the District of Columbia Languages spoken: English, Spanish...
Partner | Milbank
Number of years practice: 20 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Banking and Finance Bar admissions: New York, Argentina Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese (conversant) Argentine native Carlos T. Albarracín advises...
Partner | Proskauer Rose LLP
Number of years practice: 32 Principal practice areas: Latin America, M&A, Capital Markets, Finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from those...
Partner; co-chair of Latin America practice | Baker Botts
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Projects and energy, M&A, corporate finance Bar admissions: Texas Languages spoken: English, Spanish Houston-based Carlos Solé co-chairs Baker Botts’ Latin America practice....
Partner | White & Case
Number of years practice: 21 Principal practice areas: Acquisition finance, bank finance, project finance Bar admissions: Florida, New York Languages spoken: English, French, Spanish Carlos Viana is the head of...
Senior Attorney | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 18 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures, Sovereign Governments, and International Institutions Bar admissions: New York, Argentina, Spain Languages spoken: English, Spanish,...
Partner | Milbank
Number of years practice: 21 Principal practice areas: Energy finance, infrastructure finance, project finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Portuguese, Spanish Carolina Walther-Meade lived and went to school...
Partner | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 22 Principal practice areas: Leveraged and Acquisition Finance, Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures, Project Finance, and Infrastructure Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French...
Partner; regional section head of the Americas energy, infrastructure, project and asset finance division | White & Case
Number of years practice: 27 Principal practice areas: Asset financing, banking, corporate M&A, private equity Bar admissions: Florida, New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Christian Hansen made the move from...
Partner | Latham & Watkins
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: M&A, private equity, projects and energy Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from those of your...
Partner; head of global finance and banking practice | Mayer Brown
Number of years practice: 30 Principal practice areas: Banking and finance, capital markets; corporate and securities, M&A and private equity Bar admissions: District of Columbia, New York Languages spoken: English,...
Partner; global head of project, energy and infrastructure finance; co-head of Latin America practice | Milbank
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Projects and energy, project finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English Daniel D. Bartfeld is a partner in the New York...
Partner | Proskauer Rose LLP
Number of years practice: 20 Principal practice areas: M&A, private equity Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Born in Colombia, Daniel Ganitsky is a partner in the M&A...
Partner | Clifford Chance US LLP
Number of years practice: 34 Principal practice areas: Corporate M&A Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English David Brinton is the head of the Americas corporate practice at Clifford Chance,...
Partner | Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Number of years practice: 35 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, M&A Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish David Mercado is a partner in Cravath’s corporate department. His practice...
Partner | Latham & Watkins
Number of years practice: 18 Principal practice areas: Latin America, Project Development and Finance (Vice Chair), Banking, Mergers and Acquisitions Bar admissions: New York, District of Columbia Languages spoken: English,...
Partner | Mayer BrownLLP
Number of years practice: 41 Principal practice areas: Latin American Finance; Lending Bar admissions: Illinois Languages spoken: English, Spanish Since Mayer Brown opened its Mexico City office three years ago,...
Partner | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 29 Principal practice areas: Project Development & Finance; Banking & Finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from those of...
Partner | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Number of years practice: 26 Principal practice areas: Cross-border transactions Bar admissions: California Languages spoken: English, Spanish A Mexican native with decades of experience in oil, gas and power transactions,...
Partner | Allen & Overy LLP
Number of years practice: 20 Principal practice areas: Projects, Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure group, focusing on project finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French, Greek What...
Partner | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Number of years practice: 39 Principal practice areas: Banking and Finance, Corporate, Project Finance and Development, Energy, Oil, Gas and LNG, Latin America Bar admissions: Texas Languages spoken: Spanish What...
Partner – Energy Transactions/Projects (Project Finance) | Vinson & Elkins LLP
Number of years practice: 15 Principal practice areas: Acquisition and Leveraged Finance; Energy – Clean Energy and Technology; Energy – Upstream Oil and Gas; Latin America; Energy – Downstream Oil...
Partner | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 15 Principal practice areas: Latin America, Project Finance, Infrastructure and Energy Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from...
Partner | Clifford ChanceLLP
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: Banking and Finance, Energy and Infrastructure Bar admissions: New York, District of Colombia, Argentina Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian Fabricio Longhin...
Partner, Head of Latin America and Iberian practice groups | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Number of years practice: 25+ Principal practice areas: Mergers and Acquisitions, Banking and Finance, Projects, International and Cross-border Transactions, Latin America Bar admissions: District of Columbia, New York, Florida Languages...
Partner | Mayer Brown
Number of years practice: 35 Principal practice areas: Energy Bar admissions: Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish Prior to joining Mayer Brown as a partner in the firm’s global energy group,...
Partner | Covington & Burling
Number of years practice: 26 Principal practice areas: Corporate, M&A, Latin America Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Gabriel Mesa is a partner in Covington & Burling’s New...
Partner | Thompson & Knight LLP
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Energy Project Development, Project Finance, and Mergers and Acquisitions, with a particular focus on the US and Latin America Bar admissions: Florida,...
Partner; Head of Global Project Development & Finance Practice | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Project Development and Finance Bar admissions: New York, England and Wales, Hong Kong Languages spoken: English Gregory Tan has advised lenders and...
Partner | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 12 Principal practice areas: Capital markets Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Outside of Grissel Mercado’s capital markets work, she is involved with Abogadas...
Partner | DechertLLP
Number of years practice: 30+ Principal practice areas: Corporate, M&A, Capital Markets, Leveraged Finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Howard Kleinman is a partner in Dechert’s corporate...
Partner | Clifford Chance US LLP
Number of years practice: 20 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets Bar admissions: New York, Argentina Languages spoken: English, Spanish Hugo Triaca is a partner in the Americas capital markets practice....
Partner | Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Number of years practice: 16 Principal practice areas: Cross-border M&A, General corporate Bar admissions: Mexico, New York, Texas Languages spoken: English, Spanish In the past 12 months Humberto Padilla Gonzalez...
Partner | Clifford Chance US LLP
Number of years practice: 17 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets Bar admissions: New York, Massachusetts Languages spoken: English Jacob Farquharson is a corporate and securities partner and focuses primarily on...
Partner | Milbank
Number of years practice: 12 Principal practice areas: Energy and infrastructure, project finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Jaime Ramirez is a partner in the New York...
Partner | Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Number of years practice: 35 Principal practice areas: Finance, Leveraged Finance, Corporate Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English James A. Florack is a member of Davis Polk’s corporate department,...
Partner | Ropes & Gray LLP
Number of years practice: 18 Principal practice areas: Anti-Corruption and International Risk; Government Enforcement/White-collar Criminal Defense Bar admissions: Massachusetts Languages spoken: English A member of Ropes & Gray’s litigation and...
Partner | White & Case
Principal practice areas: Aviation, Asset finance, Projects and energy Bar admissions: New York, Florida Languages spoken: English, Spanish Dividing her time between New York and Miami Jeannine Acevedo is an...
Global Head of Energy Project Finance | Greenberg Traurig LLP
Number of years practice: 30+ Principal practice areas: Project Finance, Project M&A, Project Development, (all focusing on wind, solar and other renewable technologies) Bar admissions: California Languages spoken: English Jeffrey...
Senior associate | Clifford Chance US LLP
Number of years practice: 8 Principal practice areas: Banking and Finance, Energy and Infrastructure Bar admissions: New York, District of Colombia, Argentina Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Italian Jessica A. Springsteen...
Partner; regional section head of the Americas for capital markets division | White & Case
Number of years practice: 22 Principal practice areas: Capital markets, M&A and finance (particularly in relation to oil and gas) Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Portuguese, Spanish John...
Partner | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 28 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Corporate Advisory, Corporate Governance, Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures Bar admissions: California, New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Jorge Juantorena’s...
Partner and member of global energy group | Mayer Brown
Number of years practice: 32 Principal practice areas: Energy projects Bar admissions: Louisiana, Texas, Peru (inactive) Languages spoken: English, French, Spanish Corporate and energy specialist Jose Valera was a member...
Partner | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 29 (13 in Latin America) Principal practice areas: Latin America, Corporate Finance and Debt Restructuring Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English What differentiates your Mexico-facing...
Partner | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Number of years practice: 20 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Mergers and Acquisitions, Banking and Credit Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Juan Francisco Méndez is a partner...
Partner | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 30 Principal practice areas: Domestic and cross-border investment and finance, and leveraged lending and bank finance for REITs and other real estate companies Bar admissions: New...
Partner | Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Finance, Leveraged Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Project Finance, Corporate Bar admissions: New York, São Paulo (Foreign Legal Consultant) Languages spoken:...
Shareholder | Greenberg Traurig
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: International Tax, Corporate, M&A, Real Estate Bar admissions: Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish Manuel Rajunov focuses his practice on tax consulting and...
Associate | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 14 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Bank Finance Bar admissions: New York, Mexico Languages spoken: English, Spanish Manuel Silva is a senior associate who has played...
Partner, Foreign Legal Consultant | Bracewell LLP
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Energy, Finance, Infrastructure, Real Estate Bar admissions: Mexico, State Bar of Texas Foreign Legal Consultant Languages spoken: English, Spanish Manuel Vera heads...
Partner | Jones Day
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Cross-border M&A, Financings Bar admissions: New York, Madrid Languages spoken: English, French, Portuguese (working knowledge), Spanish (native) Dual-trained as both an economist...
Partner | LinklatersLLP
Principal practice areas: Corporate finance, banking Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Portuguese, Spanish Based in New York and São Paulo, Matthew Poulter is regarded as an extremely knowledgeable...
Partner | Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Number of years practice: 19 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Finance, Leveraged Finance, Corporate Bar admissions: New York, São Paulo (Foreign Legal Consultant) Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French Maurice Blanco...
Partner, Latin America Practice Group Head | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 39 Principal practice areas: Corporate Finance; Capital Markets; Banking; M&A Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from those of your...
Partner and Latin America Initiative co-coordinator | Ropes & Gray LLP
Number of years practice: 14 Principal practice areas: Anti-Corruption and International Risk; Government Enforcement/White-collar Criminal Defense; Corporate and Securities Litigation; Business and Commercial Litigation; Securities and Futures Enforcement Bar admissions:...
Partner | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 37 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, Corporate Advisory, Corporate Governance Bar admissions: New York, Paris Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French Nicolas Grabar’s practice focuses on...
Partner; co-head of the Latin America corporate and M&A group | Mayer Brown
Number of years practice: 21 Principal practice areas: Corporate and securities (with a particular focus on the energy sector) Bar admissions: New York, Argentina Languages spoken: English, Spanish In 2015,...
Partner | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Number of years practice: 25+ Principal practice areas: Mergers and Acquisitions Bar admissions: New York, Colombia Languages spoken: English, Spanish As a New York-based M&A partner, Paola Lozano represents a...
Partner | Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP
Number of years practice: 31 Principal practice areas: International project development in various sectors including energy, transportation, telecommunications, resorts, and entertainment centers; international joint ventures; international M&A Bar admissions: Washington,...
Of Counsel | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 16 Principal practice areas: Corporate, capital markets, finance, restructuring Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Of counsel Pedro Reyes is a highly regarded name...
Senior Associate | Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Number of years practice: 7 Principal practice areas: Projects Bar admissions: New York, Washington, D.C. Languages spoken: English, Spanish Rachel Crouch is a senior associate in Norton Rose Fulbright’s projects...
Partner | Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Number of years practice: 19 Principal practice areas: Project development and finance, International finance and M&A, Energy, Infrastructure and Mining sectors Bar admissions: New York State, Mexico Languages spoken: English,...
Partner | Cleary Gottlieb
Number of years practice: 33 Principal practice areas: Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Capital Markets, Litigation, M&A, Project Finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English Richard Cooper is one of the...
Partner; head of projects and infrastructure practice and leader of Latin American transactional group | Jones Day
Number of years practice: 27 Principal practice areas: Banking, finance and securities, projects and infrastructure, energy Bar admissions: Florida, New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Richard Puttré has more than...
Partner; chair of energy and infrastructure practice | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 26 Principal practice areas: Energy and infrastructure, project development and finance, corporate/M&A Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish For the last 26...
Partner | Latham & Watkins
Number of years practice: 18 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets Bar admissions: Illinois, New York Languages spoken: English, French, Italian and Spanish Roderick O. Branch is a partner in the...
Partner | White & Case LLP
Number of years practice: 16 Principal practice areas: M&A and Private Equity, Corporate Bar admissions: Mexico, Texas, New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Based in the firm’s Houston office, Rodrigo...
Partner | Milbank
Number of years practice: 16 Principal practice areas: Projects, energy, infrastructure Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish A partner in the New York office, and part of an...
Partner | Covington & Burling
Number of years practice: 38 Principal practice areas: M&A, corporate finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish Noted for his experience in the life sciences, banking and insurance...
Partner | White & Case
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: Acquisition finance, asset-based facilities, debt restructurings, private equity, structured finance and trade finance Bar admissions: District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York...
Partner | White & Case
Number of years practice: 24 Principal practice areas: Energy, Oil and Gas, Project Development, M&A Bar admissions: Texas, England and Wales Languages spoken: English, Spanish What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice...
Partner | Shearman & Sterling
Number of years practice: 37 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English Over the past year, Stuart Fleischmann has been involved in notable cases within...
Partner | White & Case
Number of years practice: 32 Principal practice areas: Cross-border banking and finance, cross-border securities offerings, M&A, restructurings and securities Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish...
Partner | Clifford Chance
Number of years practice: 11 Principal practice areas: Corporate M&A Bar admissions: New York, Madrid (Colegio de Abogados de Madrid) Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese Thais Garcia is a partner...
Partner | Latham & Watkins
Number of years practice: 13 Principal practice areas: M&A, Private equity Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English Part of Latham’s hugely impressive Mexico-focused private equity team, Thomas Malone has...
Partner | Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Number of years practice: 25 Principal practice areas: Project Finance – Power, Renewables, and LNG; M&A Bar admissions: New York State, Washington, D.C. Languages spoken: English Over the past year...
Partner | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Number of years practice: 28 Principal practice areas: Capital Markets, M&A, Private Equity, Project Finance Bar admissions: Connecticut, New York Languages spoken: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish Having spent ten years...
Partner | Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Number of years practice: 23 Principal practice areas: TMT, bankruptcy and restructuring, M&A, privacy and cybersecurity, international trade and national security Bar admissions: District of Columbia, Mexico, New York Languages...
Partner | King & Spalding LLP
Number of years practice: 26 Principal practice areas: Energy Bar admissions: Colegio de Abogados del Distrito Federal, Venezuela Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese Vera De Brito de Gyarfas specializes in...
Partner | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Number of years practice: 34 Principal practice areas: Banking and Finance, Project Finance and Development, Renewable Energy and Clean Power, Energy, Structured Finance and Securitization, Latin America Bar admissions: District...
Partner | Latham & Watkins LLP
Number of years practice: 15 Principal practice areas: Project Finance, Banking, Latin America, and Private Equity Finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: Spanish, English, French, Portuguese Veronica Relea’s practice...
Of Counsel | Paul Hastings
Number of years practice: 14+ Principal practice areas: Latin America, Capital Markets, Mergers and Acquisitions Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, Spanish What differentiates your Mexico-facing practice from those...
Partner | Linklaters LLP
Number of years practice: 16 Principal practice areas: Project Finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English One of Linklater’s star young partners, Vijaya R. Palaniswamy was made counsel in...
Partner | DLA Piper LLP (US)
Number of years practice: 24 Principal practice areas: Corporate Finance Bar admissions: New York and California Languages spoken: English, Spanish (fluent) Notable cases over the past 12 months for William...
For over 30 years, The Legal 500 has been analysing the capabilities of law firms around the world. Over the last five, we have expanded our legal analysis to include corporate counsel, again, on a global scale. This has been reflected in our GC Powerlist series, recognising the leading corporate counsel in a number of markets. We have also launched GC and fivehundred magazine, which focus on the in-house and private practice markets, respectively. Most recently, we have begun the development of the Private Practice Powerlist, in which The Legal 500 has sought to focus upon key individual practitioners with outstanding expertise in, and knowledge of, particular jurisdictions.
With this new edition of the Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico we highlight the leading US-based counsel active in the Mexican market today, consolidating our engagement with a critical market that, given that the broader political context, has only grown more uncertain over the last 12 months.
The ‘asymmetric interdependence’ of US-Mexico relations, long given stability by NAFTA, is arguably now more complex than ever. If the most abrupt re-calibration of the bi-national relationship appears to have been avoided, it remains the case that the nascent USMCA agreement – NAFTA’s replacement – has (to date) only been ratified by Mexico. In the interim, with the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in Mexico, both countries feature presidential administrations that share a populist posture (if little else), with a consequent decline in policy predictability and – certainly to the South – a knock-on effect on economic confidence that is reflected in a declining business environment. Certainly the role of private practice specialists is only likely to increase further, given the recent exodus of talent and expertise from Mexico’s bureaucracy (a result of AMLO’s cutting of public sector wages) and the consequent increase in the difficulties of seeing transactions and projects through to a successful conclusion.
Research of the Private Practice Powerlist has involved the canvassing of opinion from law firm partners and in-house counsel alike, as well as analysis of the career trajectories of the candidates considered for inclusion. Examining both current practice and historical data, we have sought throughout to identify practitioners with an engagement that goes beyond occasional participation. In the complex process of bilateral re-accommodation currently in process, it is to this group of lawyers that we can look for the expertise to ensure that the impact of this transformation is ameliorated. As such, they will be crucial in ensuring the continuity of bi-national business integration developed over the 25 years of NAFTA, as well as the identification and exploitation of the opportunities this period of change will undoubtedly generate.
With thanks to sponsors González Calvillo; and our congratulations to all those who have been selected for inclusion in this year’s Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico.
| Tim Girven |
| Editor, The Legal 500 Latin America |
This will mark the third consecutive anniversary in which González Calvillo has partnered with The Legal 500 in sponsoring this Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico. However, 2019 has been an entirely different year from the two prior exercises. While in 2018 our message on this issue reported record-breaking headcount, revenue and profit levels for major law firms in our country, 2019 has not been as kind.
After being in office for nearly a year, and as a consequence of what has been widely seen as a series of erratic decisions by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his administration, a slowdown (to the level of stagnation) of Mexico’s economy is well underway as we write these words. These decisions have generated market uncertainty and increasing concerns for investors from abroad, and especially domestic investors. The cancelation of key infrastructure projects including the long-awaited and much needed new Mexico City airport, pending rounds for oil blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, and of international bids for renewable energy projects, jointly with a replacement of these projects with some that, at best, have questionable technical, social, and economic feasibility (e.g. Santa Lucia airport, the Dos Bocas Refinery, and the so-called Maya train), have caused local and international investors to become concerned about our government´s ability to generate the economic growth levels vowed during the 2018 presidential campaign. Furthermore, significant reductions in government salaries and coordinated attacks on independent government agencies, have instigated lifetime public servants with relevant career expertise to leave key governmental positions, undermining the administration’s capacity to properly manage the country’s public affairs.
In an attempt to counter the foregoing, some strategies by the administration include seeking to reform the Mexican pension system by providing greater flexibility to allow for the investment of pension fund flows in different financial instruments. AMLO (as the President is popularly known in Mexico) has also issued a number of tax incentives for certain transactions carried out in Mexican stock exchanges, a measure that seeks to incentivize corporations toward the use the securities markets in Mexico. Finally, AMLO very recently heralded a government-spending program that some expect will generate important economic activity.
On the international front, a strong US economy trend has continued to benefit Mexico with, among others, all-time highs in remittance payments from Mexican immigrants into our country, and a growing demand for Mexican products, services and tourism. Also, Mexico has profited from trade wars between the US, China and Europe, generating a positive forecast due to the successful renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the USMCA/ T-MEC/ CUSMA (pending to be ratified by the US Congress).
So, the nature of the legal work in our country has rapidly evolved. New laws and new more aggressive political strategies defy the traditional approach to lawyering. It is in this context that the list of US lawyers and law firms recognized by The Legal 500 this year is likely to reflect these different trends by including new names and faces, who in turn bring new experiences and greatly needed expertise along with them.
González Calvillo, S.C. has once again the privilege of congratulating all lawyers that have been selected for due and merited recognition after the usual and expected level of research made by The Legal 500 during many months of work.
We are delighted to launch our first China GC Powerlist since the pandemic. It has been far too long since we could celebrate the best in-house lawyers in this remarkable country, but it has certainly been worth the wait. We thoroughly enjoyed researching this edition and are immensely grateful to the many lawyers and GCs who supported us over the past few months to bring this publication to fruition. The launch event was a huge success, with over 120 key legal professionals who make up the elite of the Chinese legal scene attending to hear speeches from leading partners at sponsor firm Tian Yuan and the in-house lawyers who made it on to this exclusive list.
In particular, the excellent team at Tian Yuan Law Firm played a pivotal role in providing insights into key market changes and introducing some of the most innovative GCs for consideration in this publication.
As expected for legal and business leaders in such a powerhouse economy, we had an abundance of outstanding candidates to choose from. Narrowing it down to the final 100 names was no easy task. Congratulations to everyone included—earning a place on this prestigious list was a significant achievement.
