Priego Brito & Guzmán Juárez Abogados

With over 20 years in the market, specialist oil-and-gas boutique Priego Brito & Guzmán Juárez Abogados stands out from its competitors as a result of being headquartered in Tabasco, the southeastern coastal Mexican state where much of the country’s hydrocarbons production – both on- and off-shore – is located. Fielding a team over 30-strong, including four partners, the firm handles the full range of up- and mid-stream hydrocarbons matters (along with gas transportation projects), including rights-of-way, public bidding rounds, service contracts, labour matters, agrarian law and surface rights, along with administrative relations with the full range of relevant government agencies. Recent matters also include working on the Tabasco refinery project with Techint. Founding partner Erik Priego Brito is a specialist not only in oil-and-gas matters, but also in anticorruption – a specialism that has allowed the firm to overcome the concern harboured by some major corporates with regard to using a regional firm. Fellow name partner, accountant María Teresa Guzmán Juárez oversees a number of the firm’s departments, including land-services (which handles surface rights and rights-of-way), ‘petro-legal’ (which handles the operational logistics of contracts and permits, and community and governmental relations), and corporate accounting. A second line of legal practice directors is comprised of Alberto Iduarte and Cindy Fabiola Nicoli who handle labour and criminal matters, respectively, while Wendy Osorio heads up the compliance practice. The firm also maintains offices in Ciudad del Carmen, Cancún and Mexico City.