La Firma
Vera
Luis Vera Morales.
A pioneer in Mexican environmental law and practice, V&C Founding Partner Luis Vera handles all types of environmental law matters.
Ferreting out the facts underlying a business plan, he guides his client through regulatory hurdles and guards against litigation risks. His transactional experience includes infrastructure projects (e.g., energy, mining, water, communications, and tourism), biotechnology, wetlands development, legislative development, and commercial transactions that entail duties under environmental law, as well as environmental impact studies and environmental management plans for regulated materials and waste. He has honed his dispute resolution skills in many contexts, from consensus-building to international arbitration.
Dr. Vera received his law degree from the Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD) in Mexico City. The Universidad Panamericana (UP) in Mexico City awarded him a post-graduate certificate in Economic and Corporate Law. As a Fulbright Scholar and Ford MacArthur Scholar, he studied at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, culminating in a Master of Laws degree with honors in Environmental and Energy Law. In 2010 he received a Doctorado en Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (DMAD)—a Doctorate in Environment and Sustainable Development—from the Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) in Mexico City.
He represents Mexico at the Latin-American Science & Technology Development Program (CYTED). He is a Member of the Board of the Mexico-U.S. Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (COMEXUS) and Secretary of the Fulbright Alumni Association in Mexico. In Mexico and abroad, he serves as coordinator of or instructor in various graduate studies programs in environmental policy, management, and law.
Languages: Spanish and English.
lrvera@vc.com.mx
Carvajal
Octavio Carvajal Trillo.
V&C Founding Partner Octavio Carvajal is an expert in Mexican business and environmental law matters, including both commercial and environmental litigation. He is also experienced in handling matters involving health and safety regulation, as well as aerospace law.
He received his law degree from the Universidad La Salle in Mexico City. He was awarded a Masters degree in Corporate Law by the Colegio Superior de Ciencias Jurídicas in Mexico City. And he was awarded graduate certificates in corporate law, tax, and labor law by the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City, by The George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., and by the International Training Centre (ITC) in Turin, Italy. He also received his International Aviation Law Certificate from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Geneva, Switzerland, and Montreal, Canada.
He has authored numerous articles on corporate, tax, health and safety, and environmental law for professional publications. He is an active member of several professional associations, including the Mexican Bar Association (BMA), the Mexican National Association of Business Lawyers (ANADE), the International Bar Association (IBA), and the National Association of Aeronautical Lawyers.
Languages: Spanish and English.
ocarvajal@vc.com.mx
Aldana
Alejandro Aldana Galbán.
V&C Partner Alejandro Aldana focuses his practice primarily on litigation involving Mexican environmental, tax, and administrative law. He is an expert in renewable and non-renewable energy projects, as well as environmental impact and water law.
Because of his litigation experience, Mr. Aldana is adept at assessing potential administrative, civil, and criminal liability issues. In planning a project in Mexico, he can help his client to manage those risks. Should an inspection, a demand, or a complaint arise, he can devise an effective strategy for how best to handle the client’s case.
Before joining V&C, he distinguished himself in the public sector. He served as Head of the Environmental Advisory Department and Deputy Director of Administrative Reviews in the Legal Department of the Federal Environmental Protection Prosecutor’s Office (1992-98) and Deputy Director of the Chihuahua state office of the Federal Environmental Protection Prosecutor’s Office (1998-2000).
Mr. Aldana received his law degree from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) in Mexico City, where he subsequently obtained a graduate certificate in industrial compliance with environmental regulations. He received a graduate certificate in Comparative International Law from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, one in Advanced Environmental Law Crimes from the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, one in State Environmental Crimes Law from The University of Texas at Austin, and in amparo proceedings for constitutional review from the Universidad Panamericana (UP) in Mexico City
He is an environmental law professor at the Universidad Anáhuac México Norte. He is an author of numerous articles on environmental law.
Languages: Spanish and English.
aaldana@vc.com.mx
Briones
Armando Briones Rodríguez.
EnviroSense Science Partner Armando Briones is an expert in feasibility studies for environmental aspects of energy projects, liability assessments for environmental damage in mining projects, and compliance with soil remediation plans. He assists V&C team members on technical issues as they arise during the course of their legal work.
When he joined EnviroSense in 2009, he already had extensive experience in the technical aspects of environmental regulation. From 1998 to 2008 he served as technical director for the environmental consulting firm Especialistas Ambientales, S.A. de C.V., where he where he participated in various projects involving the characterization and remediation of contaminated soil, environmental liability assessment in the mining sector, and environmental feasibility assessment for energy projects. From 1992 and until 1997, he was an environmental consultant to the Austin-based engineering and construction firm Radian International LLC. He developed private-sector projects for the public sector, certifying over 100 industrial facilities under the Mexican federal Environmental Protection Prosecutor’s Office (PROFEPA)’s Clean Industry Program.
Mr. Briones received his environmental engineering degree from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) in Mexico City in 1992. He is a member of the Colegio de Ingenieros Ambientales de México, A.C. He is a certified as an expert in environmental engineering with a specialization in soil-quality management.
Languages: Spanish and English.
abriones@vc.com.mx
Alanís
Ana Eugenia Alanís
EnviroSense Science Partner Ana Eugenia Alanís’ areas of expertise include environmental impact and auditing, Phase I and II site assessment, due diligence, and management systems. She also assists V&C team members on technical issues as they arise during the course of their legal work.
Prior to joining EnviroSense, she already had extensive experience as an environmental consultant in Mexico. From 2004 until she joined the firm in 2009, she was an independent environmental consultant. From 1999 to 2004, she was in-house environmental consultant for the environmental consulting firm Especialistas Ambientales, S.A. de C.V. From 1996 through 1998, she was an environmental consultant to Radian Corporation, S.A. de C.V.
From 1994 to 1996, she served as project coordinator in the Mexican environmental auditing firm Bureau Veritas Mexicana, S.A. de C.V., where she earned certification as Leading Auditor in a course registered by International Quality Assurance of the International Register of Certificated Auditors, taught by P-E BATALAS. From 1992 to 1993, she was an environmental technician for Kemron de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
Ms. Analís received her degree in ecology from the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM) at the State of Mexico campus.
Languages: Spanish and English.
Sámano
Miriam Isabel Sámano Rosillo.
EnviroSense Managing Partner Miriam Sámano is uniquely skilled in both technical and administrative aspects of Mexican environmental regulations. Her experience includes projects involving solid-waste management, general environmental risk assessment and due diligence research, Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessment, environmental audits and impact statements, as well as environmental compliance monitoring. In conjunction with her EnviroSense work, she assists V&C team members on technical issues as they arise during the course of their legal work.
Prior to joining EnviroSense, she was project manager and independent consultant to Especialistas Ambientales, S.A. de C.V. (from 1999 to 2009). Previously, she had served as environmental consultant to Santaló, Estudios y Proyectos, S.A. de C.V., in implementing SEDESOL and SEMARNAP projects related to the generation, collection, and disposal of solid waste in Mexico (from 1996 to 1997).
Ms. Sámano received her environmental engineering degree from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) in Mexico City. She has lectured courses on environmental law, waste-water disinfection, and bio-remediation and at the annual meeting of the Air and Waste Management Association held in Toronto, Canada.
Languages: Spanish and English.
Escoto
Carlos Andrés Escoto Carranza.
V&C Associate Carlos Escoto has over 10 years of experience practicing environmental law in Mexico. His areas of expertise include: waste and hazardous materials, environmental impact and due diligence, land use and ecology regulations, clean development mechanisms, and climate change, as well as international environmental arbitration.
Mr. Escoto received his law degree from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City. In 2009, as a British Chevening scholar, he earned a Masters degree in Environment and Sustainable Development at University College London (UCL), where his thesis was judged "outstanding”. He also took Mexican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AMPPI) courses on intellectual property protection.
On the subject of clean development mechanisms, he has given workshops at the ITAM and published articles in international journals.
Languages: Spanish, English, and Italian.
cescoto@vc.com.mx
Freyre
Gerardo Freyre Fregoso.
V&C Associate Gerardo Freyre heads the Cancún office. His litigation team represents clients in matters involving environmental, administrative, and tax law. He has experience in handling matters before the Tribunal Federal de Justicia Fiscal y Administrativa (TFJFA—the Mexican federal court with subject-matter jurisdiction over tax and administrative law cases).
Prior to joining the firm, he served as outside litigation counsel for several companies, handling tax, administrative, financial and banking matters. He served as in-house counsel in the Legislative Policy Department of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM).
He received his law degree at UAM‘s Azcapotzalco campus in Mexico City. He continued his postgraduate studies in Mexico City with courses in constitutional, administrative, and tax appeals. The TFJFA’s Education Institute awarded him a specialization degree in administrative procedure. The Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD) awarded him a specialization degree in tax law. And he completed a graduate course in environmental and natural resources law at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
He has authored articles on tax, administrative and, procedural law. He is a member of the Foro Mundial de Jóvenes Administrativistas, A.C.
Language: Spanish.
gfreyre@vc.com.mx
Aguirre
Juan Carlos Aguirre Martínez.
V&C Associate Juan Carlos Aguirre is a litigator, who focuses his practice on administrative law matters. He represents clients as defense counsel before Mexican federal and state courts. He handles administrative appeals and nullification petitions. He also works with the EnviroSense team in obtaining permits, licenses, concessions, and authorizations from federal, state, and local authorities.
Prior to joining V&C, he was in private practice as environmental law counsel.
Mr. Aguirre received his law degree from the Universidad Tecnológica de México (UTM). He has completed postgraduate work in environmental law, including specializations in environmental audits, environmental crimes, and forestry law.
Languages: Spanish and English.
jcaguirre@vc.com.mx
Alcalá
Gabriela Alcalá Turullols.
V&C Associate Gabriela Alcalá possesses broad experience litigating civil, commercial, labor, criminal, and administrative law matters. On behalf of her clients, she files claims and petitions for administrative review and amparo writs for constitutional review.
Prior to joining V&C, she trained in well-regarded Mexican law firms before serving in the public sector. She worked as a litigator in the Legal Affairs and Complaints Unit of the Office of the Mexican federal Prosecutor for environmental matters, as well as the Office of the Federal District Prosecutor charged with enforcement of environmental and zoning regulations.
Ms. Alcalá received her law degree from the Universidad Intercontinental (UIC) in Mexico City. She currently teaches as adjunct law professor at the UIC. Her course subjects include environmental law, criminal law, and criminal justice.
Languages: Spanish and English.
galcala@vc.com.mx
Bustamante
Gabriel Rodrigo Bustamante Brambila.
V&C Associate Gabriel Bustamante handles administrative, business, and litigation matters.
As a member of the environmental consulting team, his areas of expertise include: infrastructure projects, tourist developments, hazardous-waste landfills, and energy projects. He has taken an active hand in significant development projects in Mexico. Among them are: the Bicentennial Viaduct road project, the Punta Brava golf course and residence, and the Sierra Juárez Energy wind farm.
As a litigator, he represents clients before Mexican courts and government agencies in filing administrative complaints, responses, nullification petitions, and appeals. In recent years he has expanded his dispute resolution practice to include alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation, and conciliation.
Mr. Bustamante also has experience in working with NGOs and federal, state, and local governments. On behalf of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC), he researched the environmental status of Mexico’s largest freshwater lake, Lago de Chapala, in order to put together a factual record for protecting a threatened natural resource. He also assisted in drafting model rules on environmental issues for indigenous Mexican communities, whose legal regimes are based largely on custom.
Before joining V&C, he was with Cuétara, Serana y Bolaños, S.C., a Mexican law firm specializing in civil litigation and administrative and commercial law.
Mr. Bustamante received his law degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA), where he graduated with honors. He complemented his legal education with study abroad in art, culture, and the Italian language.
Languages: Spanish, Italian, French, and English.
gbustamante@vc.com.mx
Hernández
María Cristina Hernández Calzada.
V&C Associate Cristina Hernández has five years’ experience in international environmental projects.
Her areas of expertise are: management and implementation of statewide environmental projects, comparative law, environmental law development, infrastructure projects, environmental impact, climate change, and sustainable development.
She has been a consultant to the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and the U. N. Environment Programme (UNEP). She participated in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in their Global Environmental Citizenship Project, which works with the Latin American Parliament and with the environment ministries and senates of Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as with other international networks such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She also worked to develop UNEP proposals, workshops, and statements on Latin Americans’ access to environmental justice. Through the British Embassy to Mexico, she worked with the Global Opportunities Fund (GOF) that runs projects on climate change, human rights, and economic governance.
Ms. Hernández received her law degree from Barra Nacional de Abogados Law School (BNA) in Mexico City, where she currently teaches environmental law.
Under the auspices of the British Embassy to Mexico, she took a Foreign & Commonwealth Office course on program and project management in London in 2008.
Languages: Spanish, English, and French
Gaitán
Aciel Gaitán García.
V&C Associate Aciel Gaitán heads up the new office in Guadalajara. His areas of expertise include: corporate planning in Mexican environmental, water, waste, and health and safety law, as well as environmental, administrative, and tax litigation.
He received his law degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City, where he also earned a specialization in tax law. He has continued his studies with graduate courses in environmental law.
He has given training courses on environmental law issues to several companies, including Procter & Gamble, MINSA, Petrochemical Pennwalt, Mancera Ernst & Young. During law school he spoke on environmental law issues to various groups, including POLI, Asociación Nacional Mexicana de Seguridad e Higiene, COPARMEX, CONCAMIN, ANIQ, and the Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD).
Mr. Gaitán is an active member of the Environmental Committee of the Asociación Nacional de la Industria Química, A.C.
Language: Spanish.
agaitan@vc.com.mx
Gómez
Daniel Gómez Ramirez.
Since joining V&C as a law clerk in 2008, Mr. Gómez has trained in administrative litigation, as well as in the consulting and environmental management areas.
Prior to joining the firm, he clerked in the office of Notary Public No. 221 for the Federal District of Mexico.
Mr. Gómez has completed his undergraduate course work at the Universidad Intercontinental (UIC) law school in Mexico City. His is currently preparing his thesis on legal liability under Mexican law for environmental damage.
Languages: Spanish and English.
Rodal
José Antonio Rodal Bustamante.
V&C Associate José Antonio Rodal specializes in coordinating integrated coastal-zone management processes.
Prior to joining V&C, he distinguished himself in both the public and private sector. In private practice, he worked for 11 years as a trial lawyer handling civil, commercial, labor, and management matters. As a public servant for 13 years, he worked with the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT) as Assistant Director of Concessions and as Assistant Director of the Federal Maritime Zone and Coastal Environment Office’s Legal Department. His responsibilities included: environmental law, government property law, administrative law, agriculture law, mining law, and liaison with business and community groups (i.e., ejidos and cooperatives).
Mr. Rodal received his law degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) in Mexico City. He earned a Master of Laws degree and has completed his course work toward a Doctor of Laws degree from the Universidad de Estudios de Posgrado en Derecho (EPED) in Mexico City.
He has completed postgraduate courses in a number of subjects, including integrated coastal-zone management at the Costa Sur campus of the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG), at the Instituto Nacional de Ecología (INE), and at SEMARNAT in Mexico City; environmental law at EPED and at the Sustainable Development Center of the federal Environmental Protection Prosecutor’s Office (PROFEPA); public administration at the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública (INAP); legal audits at the Colegio Superior de Ciencias Jurídicas (Humanitás) in Mexico City; and law of the sea and maritime law at EPED.
Languages: Spanish and English.
jarodal@vc.com.mx
Solís
Lic. Jorge Antonio Solís López
He holds a Law Degree from the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), where he also obtained a postgraduate degree in International Environmental Law. He also holds a specialization degree in Analysis and Management of Environmental Public Policy from the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública; he has attended various seminars and taken various courses and degrees in environmental law, an area on which he has focused his professional practice. He has 15 years of experience in the government, social and private sectors, where he worked as a consultant, litigating attorney and auditor in such as matters as Environmental Impact, Land Use Change, Water, Genetically Modified Organisms, Urban Development, Waste, Hazardous Activities, Work Health and Safety. He worked as a civil servant for various governmental entities, in particular as Head of the Litigation Department at the Ministry of Environment of the Federal District. As regards to the private sector, he has counseled companies such as COCONAL, Procter & Gamble, DOW CHEMICAL, BAYER, HENKEL, Grupo KUO, and MAGNA. He actively participates in both business and academic forums and has been a speaker at the Colegio Nacional Barra de Abogados, the Escuela Libre de Derecho and the Tecnológico de Monterrey, as well as at trade chambers such COPARMEX, CONCAMIN, CANAFEM, among others. LANGUAGES: Spanish, English and French.
jsolis@vc.com.mx