Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico 2019
Partner, Head of Latin America and Iberian practice groups | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Fernando C. Alonso
Partner, Head of Latin America and Iberian practice groups | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
25+
Mergers and Acquisitions, Banking and Finance, Projects, International and Cross-border Transactions, Latin America
District of Columbia, New York, Florida
Spanish
I have been representing a broad range of publicly-owned and privately held US and foreign companies and financial institutions for over 25 years. During this time, I have been involved in numerous significant mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other business transactions, including those involving cross-border complexities.
My practice involves representation of both financial institutions and companies in connection with equity and debt financings. I have structured and directed numerous private equity deals, public and private partnerships, privatisations and government contracts and concessions. I regularly represent foreign clients in connection with US acquisitions, as well as domestic companies in the energy, infrastructure and telecommunications sectors, among others, in connection with their international expansion. Finally, I serve as the chairman of the firm’s Latin American and Iberian practice groups and have worked on transactions involving all countries in the region.
The current status of the legal profession and the way we conduct business obviates the existence of any real disadvantages in advising Mexico-based clients from an office in the United States. Technology allows me to provide the same level of legal service to my Mexico-based clients regardless of the fact that we may not be located in the city or country. In addition, while Hunton Andrews Kurth has offices throughout the world, my Miami location, and its close proximity to Mexico, allows me to hold in-person meetings with my clients with relative ease.
In my experience, Mexican clients have no issues with being serviced by a law firm that may not have a physical presence in their country. As any other client, they are looking for the best law firm and the best representation, regardless of location.
Companies are being more cautious as they evaluate recent changes in Mexico’s government and the impact the administration may have on foreign investments in the country. To the extent foreign investment is discourages, we expect that we may become busier with Mexican nationals investing in the United States. While this uncertainty impacts all sectors, there is greater anticipation as to how the energy sector will be impacted.
The legal technology tools available to our lawyers benefit our US/Mexico working practices given that they allow us to create efficiencies when handling matters while keeping the high standards of service our clients expect.
The firm uses a variety of technology solutions to offer innovative ways in handling legal matters, including improving efficiencies and quality of service for clients. One of the most notable products of these collaborations is our Client Workroom design, virtual workspaces that offer a high-level of security and allow for lawyer-client collaboration and cost-effective information exchange. In addition, the firm maintains robust document management systems, customized litigation support technologies, and other specialized applications. These capabilities enable us to reduce costs and improve efficiency, as expected by our clients. Hunton also has established Cognicion, LLC, a full-service eDiscovery and data management center. Using advanced technology and automation to manage eDiscovery, extensive due diligence materials associated with M&A or funding transactions, litigation documents and depositions, Cognicion has managed the collection and production of many millions of pages of documents for major corporate clients.
In-house counsel are looking for service providers that are responsive and possess a deep bench of experience in a given sector. Clients often call upon us for guidance with respect to documenting Mexican transactions along US lines as it has become customary for in-house counsel in Mexico, as well as throughout Latin America, to model the due-diligence aspects of any given transaction based on US standards.
