DLA Piper today announced that it has opened an office in Mexico City with the addition of a 14-lawyer team from Thompson & Knight LLP. This group is led by partners Carlos Valencia and Manuel Rajunov, who will serve as co-managing partners of the Mexico City office, and partners Miguel de Erice, Guillermo Uribe and Tatiana Escribano, as well as Dania Duncan as of-counsel and eight associates.
Representing a wide variety of public and private companies, as well as the Mexican Federal Government, this group of highly-experienced lawyers brings an emphasis on corporate, securities, tax, energy, real estate, project finance and infrastructure law to DLA Piper’s growing global platform.
“This is a world-class group of lawyers who immediately provide DLA Piper with the most significant Mexico presence of any global law firm,” said Frank Burch, global co-chair of DLA Piper. “As we continue to expand our presence in Latin America, this is an important market for us. Many of our clients have major operations in Mexico, while many others do significant business there so this is a natural fit with plenty of opportunities for growth.”
DLA Piper continues to strategically expand throughout Latin America. In 2011, DLA Piper opened its Miami office, which has quickly grown to more than 20 lawyers, while it simultaneously expanded into Venezuela with its DLA Interjuris Abogados office in Caracas. This followed the firm’s 2010 cooperation agreement in Brazil with Campos Mello Advogados and the establishment of DLA Piper’s foreign consultancy in Brazil.
“In Latin America, our presence in Mexico City also creates a number of opportunities for our clients in markets like Spain, Europe and Miami, among others, by providing a sophisticated and complementary Mexico practice,” said Stuart Berkson, chair of DLA Piper’s Latin America practice. “Just as important, DLA Piper now has coverage in Latin America’s two largest economies – Brazil and Mexico.”
“We are pleased to join DLA Piper’s leading global platform which provides us with an unparalleled level of resources from which to serve our clients throughout Latin America and abroad,” explained Mexico City co-managing partner Carlos Valencia.
Joining the five partners from Thompson & Knight are associates Adrián Gay Lasa, Jorge E. González Carlini, M. Cecilia Gutiérrez-Sansano Diego Fernández, Laura Dinora Martínez Salinas, Santiago Palomar, Erick Tiscareño Hernández, Alberto Vizcaíno Zamora and Cecilia Zaldívar Cobo.
