AmLaw Daily mentioned that Jones Day is opening a Mexico City office by acquiring “top-tier” firm De Ovando y Martínez del Campo, S.C. Eight partners and 12 associates come over in the deal. They will focus on corporate transactions and real estate.
Mexico is a large market. As the Jones Day press release notes:
“In 2007, Mexico ‘s GDP was north of 1 trillion USD, making it the 13th largest economy in the world just behind Brazil (10th), Russia(11th) and India(12th). Though Mexico is often overlooked in the commentary on the growing importance of the BRIC nations, it remains the US’s third largest trading partner behind only Canada and China and ahead of Japan. The circumstances and ties that lead to NAFTA will only increase in future years making Mexico an ever more important economy for our clients,” said Stephen J. Brogan, Managing Partner of Jones Day. “We are confident that the team joining us in Mexico City will enhance our ability to provide the highest level of service to our clients.”
That got me thinking about which other major US law firms have offices in Mexico, because the country seems to get so little attention. Off the top of my head and after the requisite two phone calls to friends and a quick google search, we came up with:
- Chadbourne & Parke, which started operations a year ago in part by poaching lawyers from Thacher Proffitt & Wood, although I doubt that’s the reason for the firm’s demise;
- White & Case, which has been in the region since 1991;
- Baker & McKenzie (of course), which has Baker McFranchises in seven cities;
- Curtis Mallet-Prevost & Mosle, which I didn’t know was still around but one friend says they are and have a not-insubstantial securities and project finance practice down there; and
- Holland & Knight, which is fairly well known for its Latin America practice out of Miami.
I was surprised that none of the Magic Circle firms seem to have outposts in the country. As Brogan noted, it’s a huge market. Is it underserved? If so, why? Did we miss anyone?
