Mexico - Administrative Law Firm of the Year Brito Anderson Rafael M. Brito Anderson Director / Partner Tel: +52 (55) 5950 1590 rafael.brito@britoanderson.com www.britoanderson.com
Brito Anderson is a Mexican boutique law firm integrated by lawyers with more than 25 years of experience, with one goal: to provide legal services of excellence. Brito Anderson is a law firm highly specialized in Administrative Law, Competition/Antitrust Law, Litigation and Legal Reforms, areas in which its lawyers are nationally and internationally recognized. Brito Anderson handles few legal cases at the same time only; ie, the most complex ones of its clients. Most of Brito Anderson´s clients are among the top-three companies in their respective fields (telephony, satellite communications, radio, television, seaports, airports, railroads, energy, financial, health, real estate and diverse consumer goods, among others). Brito Anderson has handled an important number of the most relevant cases in Competition/Antitrust Law since the Mexican Federal Competition
Commission was created. Regarding Administrative Law, Brito Anderson benefits from the previous experience of some of its partners as former key lawyers and former legal consultants of the Mexican Government, including the Presidency office, the Ministry of Communications and Transports, the Ministry of Energy, the Economy Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Economic Deregulation Unit, the Federal Commission of Regulatory Improvement, the National Water Commission and the State Governments of Mexico and Baja California Sur. Regarding litigation, Brito Anderson is specialized in Constitutional litigation (Amparo), Administrative and Fiscal Litigation, Competition/ Antitrust Litigation, as well as Civil and Commercial Litigation, and has handled multimillionaire cases. Brito Anderson has participated in the draft of reforms to the Constitution, the Civil, Commerce and Procedure Codes, the Foreign Investment Law, the Federal Law of Metrology and Normalization, the Federal Law of Administrative Proceeding, the Law of Acquisitions, Leases and Services of the Public Sector and the Law of Public Works and Services, the draft of the Administrative Code of the State of Mexico and the draft of Regulations of the Airports Law, Civil Aviation Law, Railway Services Law, Navigation Law, Federal Economic Competition Law, Foreign Investment Law and Federal Law of Metrology and Normalization, among others. Moreover, Brito Anderson´s experience in Legal Reforms has certainly benefited the firm in a significant way and has led it to develop high skills to interpret the reach and aim of the different laws and regulations – to determine the scope of application and to identify the best arguments to support the cases handled by the firm.
Mexico - Bankruptcy Law Firm of the Year Rivera Gaxiola y Asociados, S.C. Alonso Rivera Gaxiola Founding and Senior Partner Tel: +52 55 1084 1230. arivera@rgya.com www.rgya.com
Rivera Gaxiola y Asociados, S.C is a law firm specialised mainly in litigation, specifically: bankruptcies, financial restructurings, shareholder controversies, commercial, civil and administrative litigation. The firm distinguishes itself as an aggressive firm on the court’s floor, with strict coordination between paralegals at court and associates at the office to enhance a greater control of client cases. The firm’s areas of expertise include: civil, commercial and administrative litigation, international and domestic arbitration, bankruptcies, financial restructurings, shareholders controversies and disputes, telecommunications, aviation law, bonds and bails, insurances, and energy. Alonso Rivera Gaxiola, founding and senior partner of Rivera Gaxiola y Asociados, S.C., noted: “The law firm was founded on December 2, 2002; meanwhile, its headquarters are located in Mexico City, with an office in Nuevo León, Monterrey. The firm has practised all over the country, through our own staff or through strategic alliances and associations with local top firms. Today, Rivera Gaxiola y Asociados is one of the most important and well-known firms in Mexico.” Mr Rivera is an attorney who gained his law degree at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and has extensive experience in civil, commercial, corporate and administrative litigation throughout the country, pertaining 102 GlobalAwards 2012
to national and international arbitration, bankruptcies and financial matters. Mexico’s insolvency law, known as the ‘ley de concursos mercantiles’, was enacted in 2000, replacing a bankruptcy system that was perceived as being favourable to debtors at the expense of creditors, known as the Bankruptcy and Suspension of Payments Act, 1943. Mr Rivera explained further: “The Bankruptcy and Suspension of Payments Act, 1943, was designed for the economic and social conditions of the times. As such, in the year 2000, a new Commercial Bankruptcy Act came to light, reorganising judges and specialists such as inspectors, mediators and receivers. The changes were made to give the procedures more transparency, and to avoid spending too much time before resolution. Specialists are designated by the Federal Institute of Commercial Bankruptcy Specialists, an auxiliary body of the Federal Judicature Council. These specialists will help the judge find an immediate and real solution to the financial problems of the company, leaving the judge the primary function of ruling.” According to Mr Rivera, the modern insolvency law that Concurso Mercantil (Commercial Bankruptcy), governed by the Commercial Bankruptcy Act (Ley de Concursos Mercantiles ‘LCM’), consists of two successive phases: conciliation and bankruptcy. The purpose of the former is stated as being: “the conservation of the company of the merchant by means of the agreement signed with its Acknowledged Creditors”. Meanwhile, the purpose of the latter is: “the sale of the company of the merchant, of its production units and of the assets that form it for payment to the Acknowledged Creditors”. Rivera Gaxiola y Asociados, S.C is lauded among industry insiders for its high quality client-lawyer relationships. Further still, the firm continues to provide bespoke services to clients – providing procedures and strategies that cater to their unique requirements at all times.