Hogan Lovells

Following the January 2023 departure of former practice head Brenda Rogel, the Mexico office of full service international firm Hogan Lovells‘ hired experienced practitioner Mauricio Llamas from Jones Day in April 2023, bringing senior associate Mauricio Villegas with him. Llamas – who originally opened his own specialist environmental boutique firm back in 2008 –  has over 20 years dedicated to the sector and also has broader experience that reaches into government regulation and environmental health and safety (EH&S) matters. This latter area is also an area of specialism for Villegas who advises domestic and international clients on a wide array of EH&S compliance matters and M&A environmental auditing procedures. The team is rounded out by Sofia de Llano and Santiago Contró (mid- and junior-level associates, respectively) who also arrived with Llamas; and a pair of January 2023 hires that further the practice group’s capabilities in the ESG space: practice director Pablo Necoechea, and ESG-focused associate, Mariana Ávila Martínez. While it remains early to see how the practice will bed in at the firm initial signs are positive with the group handling a more or less balanced workload split between environmental consultancy, environmental auditing and environmental litigation for clients in the hydrocarbons, metallurgy and mining, and industrial recycling sectors, among others. Recent mandates include comprehensive advice for the development of a one-of-a kind, waste-to-energy and recycling facility in the north of Mexico.