Partner | Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP
Paul O’Hop
Partner | Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP
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International project development in various sectors including energy, transportation, telecommunications, resorts, and entertainment centers; international joint ventures; international M&A
Washington, D.C., California (inactive)
English, Spanish
Paul A. O’Hop has been active in the Mexican energy sector for more than 25 years, during which time he has acted as lead counsel on several first-of-their-kind transactions involving private and government-owned energy companies in Latin America. Over the past year, Mr. O’Hop and his team worked on several notable Mexican energy matters, including representing IEnova in the development of the 110 MW Pima Solar Project and its related transmission facilities, both to be located in the State of Sonora. Throughout his career, he has represented a number of large US-based energy companies on power generation, pipeline and production projects in the United States and Latin America, and has substantial experience in the creation of international joint ventures including joint ventures between government and private sector entities (public-private partnerships). O’Hop was the founder of his firm’s renewable energy practice in 2004 , and frequently works on large-scale solar and wind energy projects in the US and Latin America. He was also the head of the Squire’s Latin American practice from 2008 until 2014, during which time he managed four Latin American offices of Squire, and a network of affiliated Latin American firms.
I have been advising on legal matters related to Mexico since the late 1980s, especially in the Mexican energy sector where my team and I have been involved almost continuously since the initial reform of the Mexican gas sector and the development of the first independent power project (IPP) in the mid-1990s. My team and I have been involved in some of the largest natural gas pipelines in the country, and more recently, on large-scale renewable energy projects, including solar and wind projects. I also have experience working in the formation of successful joint ventures between international companies and Mexican energy companies (including state-owned and private companies). My team and I have been members of the Mexican energy community for several decades and are familiar with Mexican legal norms and practices, fully bilingual in English and Spanish, and are able to review, draft and/or negotiate transaction documents in either of these languages as needed.
The primary advantage of advising Mexico-based clients from an office in the United States is having tremendous flexibility in assembling the best team for any matter in Mexico. In each transaction, we are able to combine our own experience in Mexico (and indeed in other countries across Latin America) with the best Mexican experts in the area of the law that is most relevant to the client. This approach does create an added burden on us as US-based practitioners, which we happily accept, to follow the Mexican market closely and to travel frequently there to remain current, and to maintain our expertise and relationships.
As President López Obrador approaches the end of his first year in office, we are seeing different reactions and strategies among commercial players. On the one hand, we are seeing continued caution on the part of many potential new market entrants as they assess the current political and economic climate to determine the correct timing for investing. On the other hand, many international companies that have already invested in Mexico and are already well-established in that market are taking advantage of their competitors’ caution and are aggressively building and strengthening their own positions.
Despite the re-assessment and/or cancellation of major infrastructure projects of the previous administration, like the Mexico City airport expansion, we expect that AMLO-sponsored projects, such as the Santa Lucia airport, the Maya Train project, and other projects will pick up momentum in the coming year. In addition, once the USMCA is fully enacted by all parties, the economies of both countries should experience a bump to some degree, which hopefully will not be muted by AMLO cutting support to trade promotion agencies in Mexico or by broader global trade tensions.
Technology continues to make it easy for international lawyers to run and close Mexican deals while being physically present only intermittently. Although there is a lot of discussion in the trade press about the future role of artificial intelligence in the legal practice, I have not yet seen it impact my day-to-day practice. However, I have seen an increasing focus from our clients on cybersecurity, particularly that which puts at risk confidential information or the safety of critical infrastructure.
It goes without saying that in-house counsel’s priorities will always include relevance and quality of service – and of course cost. Thus, to me the key is to ensure that such in-house counsel is always aware of the value that we add as experienced international counsel based in the US, including when we are working with top Mexican firms as co-counsel. Our long-standing clients readily understand such value, but sometimes this requires extra time and effort when dealing with new clients.