Jones Day lures team from Greenberg Traurig in Mexico City

As Mexico continues to carry out reforms in its telecommunication, energy and financial sectors, Jones Day has reinforced its Mexico City office with a team from Greenberg Traurig.

Luis Rubio Barnetche joins as a partner in the government regulation practice, alongside partners Bertha Alicia Ordaz Avilés and Octavio Lecona Morales. José Antonio Vázquez Cobo joins as a partner in the global disputes practice with Matias Osvaldo Bietti as of counsel. This is the second large defection from Greenberg Traurig in recent months. In April 2015, Luis Octavio Núñez and Rodrigo López Márquez and their teams returned to Mexico City-based firm Kuri Breña Sánchez Ugarte & Aznar after nearly four years Greenberg Traurig.

Rubio focuses on corporate law, representing domestic and international clients including the Mexican government, Satélites Mexicanos, Chrysler, General Electric and Corporación Mexicana de Inversiones de Capital on M&A, divestitures, joint ventures, international contracts, and international trade proceedings with experience in the telecom sector. He was part of the team that negotiated NAFTA on behalf of the Mexican government.

According to Rubio, the team will be better positioned to assist the needs of clients as a result of substantial amendments to telecom, energy, competition and anti-corruption statutes in Mexico over the last few years.

“The implementation process of such new regulations will be challenging and clients will require better and more specialized advice to take advantage of the opportunities also it would be important to have good counsel to make sure that clients understand and comply with fast changing regulations,” he said.

Ordaz specializes in transactionals in the telecommunications, media and other regulated sectors. She provides advice on M&A, joint ventures, corporate and financial restructuring as well as general antitrust issues and investigations before the Mexican Federal Competition Commission. She has also led and implemented compliance programs in anticorruption and antitrust matters.

Lecona provides counsel to local and multinational clients on telecommunications and corporate deals, including M&A, joint ventures, and corporate restructurings, along with a variety of general corporate and regulatory matters.

Vázquez Cobo, a commercial litigator, focuses on proceedings before local and federal courts and arbitration forums. He practices in a wide number of litigation areas, such as contractual disputes, civil responsibility, shareholders and managers conflicts, enforcement of negotiable documents and guarantee agreements as well as asset-recovery litigation and judicial probate proceedings.

Osvaldo advises clients in international proceedings before ICSID, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Chamber of Commerce, notably in disputes relating to energy, infrastructure, oil and gas, water and sanitation, sovereign debt, and aviation.