The year 2024 marks a landmark edition for The Best Lawyers in Mexico™ awards, which have reached their milestone 15th edition. Not only are we honoring 15 years of Best Lawyers awards, but we are also excited to announce the second annual Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Mexico™ awards, the newest of the Best Lawyers awards.
Over the last five editions of The Best Lawyers in Mexico, we have seen an impressive increase in lawyer nominations, with an overall 68% growth. This is a testament to the vitality of these awards for those seeking legal services in Mexico. Whether general consumers or other practicing lawyers, the Best Lawyers awards help to identify the most elite talent in Mexico’s legal community. The most exciting points are growth in participation and expansion into new practice areas, which we discuss more below.
The Best Lawyers in Mexico Highlights
For the landmark 15th edition of The Best Lawyers in Mexico, we are excited to honor 1,499 lawyers in 66 practice areas across 10 metropolitan areas. Among those 10, Mexico City is the metropolitan area with the most recognized lawyers.
This year, we added a new practice area for consideration, Outsourcing. Regarding this newest edition, Best Lawyers Research Analyst Manager Kimberly Welsh explains that to meet the demand of the growing legal market in Mexico, it is imperative that we continue adding eligible practice areas that best encompass the world of the lawyers. Outsourcing showed impressive growth in nominations this year and allowed us to fully expand it into a ranked specialty among lawyers who practice.
Another practice area that showed significant growth, according to Welsh, was Commercial Litigation, which had not only growth in recognitions, but also had a large spike in searches on the website. She attributes this largely to Mexico’s current administration, which she notes “has made a number of changes related to the judiciary, and one of the effects has been an increase in the number of cases in the court system.”
Commercial Litigation falls among the top ten practice areas with the most recognized honorees in Mexico. The other nine include: Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Administrative Law, Tax Law, Labor and Employment Law, Banking and Finance Law, Project Finance and Development Practice, Real Estate Law, Intellectual Property Law and Arbitration and Mediation.
There was a surge in interest on www.bestlawyers.com in Mexico over the last year for Labor and Employment law, which not only was the most searched practice area but also had a significant rise in recognized lawyers, further reflecting its growing importance in Mexico’s legal industry. Welsh attributes this largely to the 1 May 2023 deadline that all existing Collective Bargaining Agreements be ratified by their unions. “I expect this might have resulted in a greater need for legal advice and/or representation, including for U.S. employers who may have unionized workers in their Mexican locations.”
After Labor and Employment Law, users searched our website most frequently for: Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice, Commercial Litigation, Real Estate Law, Tax Law, Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property Law, Trade Law and Administrative Law.
The Best Lawyers in Mexico also includes a particularly notable distinguishment, the “Lawyer of the Year” award. "Lawyer of the Year" honors are awarded annually to only one lawyer per practice area in each region with extremely high overall feedback from their peers, and this year, this exceptional distinction has been awarded to 63 incredibly talented lawyers.
Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Mexico
For the second year, Best Lawyers is proud to announce the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Mexico awards, which honor lawyers who have been in private practice between three and eight years. These lawyers are nominated and elected using the same Purely Peer Review™ methodology that we use for the traditional Best Lawyers list. For 2024, the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Mexico awards honor 371 lawyers across 65 law firms and 27 practice areas. Recognitions were awarded in four metropolitan areas.
For the second year in a row, Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law is the practice area with not only the most growth, but the most honorees, among Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Mexico awards. Welsh notes: “This is a large/popular practice area all around the world, and I imagine it’s appealing for younger lawyers as a starting point—it’s broad enough to encompass a lot of very secure, lucrative practices, and allows the practitioner to choose the industry or industries where they might most want to work, or to drill into specific niches (international mergers, corporate financing structures, etc.) or moving into related areas like Labor and Employment. It’s also a good place to build a foundation for a potential move into an in-house role later in their career.”
Following this specialty, the nine others with the most recognized lawyers are in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Mexico are: Tax Law, Labor and Employment Law, Commercial Litigation, Banking and Finance Law, Real Estate Law, Energy Law, Intellectual Property Law, Arbitration and Mediation and Competition / Antitrust Law.
“Law Firm of the Year” Awards
“Law Firm of the Year” awards recognize a single top firm for its work in a specific legal practice area nationwide. Awards are determined based on a handful of factors including lawyer feedback, the number of lawyers included in Best Lawyers for that firm and practice area, the number of office locations a firm has, historical analysis of the firm’s “Lawyer of the Year” awards, materials submitted by firms, and the firm’s overall scope and areas of expertise.
The 2024 “Law Firm of the Year” recipients in Mexico are:
Baker McKenzie
Labor and Employment Law
Basham, Ringe y Correa
Tax Law
Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez
Capital Markets Law
Competition / Antitrust Law
Dentons López Velarde
Natural Resources Law
EC Legal Rubio Villegas
Trade Law
Galicia Abogados
Energy Law
Project Finance and Development Practice
Malpica, Iturbe, Buj y Paredes
Civil Litigation
Martínez, Algaba, de Haro y Curiel
Commercial Litigation
Ritch, Mueller, Heather y Nicolau
Banking and Finance Law
Real Estate Law
Santamarina y Steta
Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law
Uhthoff, Gómez Vega & Uhthoff
Intellectual Property Law
Von Wobeser y Sierra
Arbitration and Mediation
Nominations
Nominating is the most vital step toward a Best Lawyers recognition, and we make the process simple with our easy, accessible nomination form. Nominations are already open for the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers.
Showcasing Your Award
Best Lawyers offers several options to showcase awards through impactful marketing.
Please contact sales@bestlawyers.com to learn more about how you can highlight individual lawyer and firm awards through your website, social media channels, Best Lawyers Profile Suite packages and commemorative items.
Interested in seeing Best Lawyers honorees in Mexico? Use our Find a Lawyer tool to search by location and specialty.
Access the full report of Best Lawyers international releases, updated continuously.
