The international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP announced today the opening of a new office in Mexico City. The office, the firm’s 33rd, will focus on providing legal services to international clients seeking to enter the Mexican and Latin American markets, as well as those with established businesses in the region.

Luis Rubio Barnetche, former managing partner at Rubio Villegas & Asociados, a highly-regarded Mexican law firm founded in 1966, will serve as managing shareholder of the office, which is expected to have approximately 20 attorneys by early 2012. The interdisciplinary team of lawyers and business professionals in the Mexico City office will work with clients on a wide range of matters, including: 

• corporate/mergers and acquisitions;  
• competition/antitrust;  
• telecommunications;  
• global trade and investment;  
• civil and commercial litigation;  
• arbitration and alternative dispute resolution;  
• business reorganization and bankruptcy;  
• real estate;  
• labor and employment, and  
• food and drug regulation.

As a partner at Rubio Villegas & Asociados, Rubio developed a broad practice representing domestic and international clients in complex corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory proceedings, divestitures, joint ventures, international contracts and tax and international trade proceedings. He has represented domestic and foreign corporations, trade associations, and the Mexican government in numerous international trade proceedings. 

“I am excited to become part of Greenberg Traurig’s global platform. Given the symmetries in our experience, culture, areas of practice and clients, the new office is a positive new resource for our clients,” Rubio said. 

Rubio joins the firm’s Latin America Practice, an important component of the Global Practice Group chaired by Patricia Menéndez-Cambó. The team has received numerous awards from Chambers and Partners and Latin Lawyer throughout the years. Practice members have advised companies on energy, telecommunications, media and infrastructure projects in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and throughout Latin America. 

“The addition of a Mexico City office is well aligned with Greenberg Traurig’s goals and platform in Latin America, which includes a focused emphasis by high-caliber attorneys on the regional and global needs of local and international clients,” said Menéndez-Cambó. “Greenberg Traurig is pleased to have Luis join us. We have a long history of working hand-in-hand with him in Latin America. We share a collaborative culture that will serve our mutual clients well as we continue to expand our services in the region.” 

“We are one firm, balanced, stable, effective and collaborative, which deeply values its uniquely empowering, respectful and fair culture. Our intense focus on preserving those attributes while strengthening our unmatched US platform, our long standing and highly regarded practice in the Americas and our growing presence in the key business centers of Europe and Asia, has now led us into Mexico,” said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Chief Executive Officer of Greenberg Traurig. “With an emphasis on cross-border work, the attorneys in the new Mexico City office will play an integral role in Greenberg Traurig’s Latin America Practice, as well as the firm’s broader Global Practice. These are our friends who are already well known to our clients, with an established business base, and so this move is a natural evolution for us.”