Partner

CRISTINA SÁNCHEZ URTIZ

Partner of the Law Firm Miranda & Estavillo since 1996. Ms. Sánchez-Urtiz centers her practice on tax, corporate and transactional, representing large international corporations doing business in Mexico and Central America involved in different areas of activities, among others, admiralty, oil and gas, mining and infrastructure, representing corporate groups from Latin America, United States of America, Canada, Europe and Asia. She advises clients on Mexican and treaty-based tax provisions, as well as on transfer pricing rules; foreign investment and corporate. Ms. Sánchez-Urtiz's corporate practice includes legal audits, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, shareholder’s agreements, stock sales and purchases, joint venture agreements and specialized counseling on the tax implications thereof. Further to her counseling practice, Ms. Sánchez-Urtiz is currently engaged in tax, customs and administrative litigation, including constitutional protection (amparo) litigation, before the tax and administrative authorities and courts and before the federal judicial courts. Ms. Sanchez-Urtiz has participated in deferent events in Latin America and Asia on legal aspects to invest in Mexico. Ms. Sanchez-Urtiz has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the Ninth Edition of The Best Lawyers® in Mexico for her work in Tax Law. Miss Sánchez-Urtiz is member of Mexican Bar Association, Mexican Group of International Fiscal Association (IFA), International Chamber of Commerce and China Chamber of Commerce and Technology Mexico.

Partner

ARMANDO SÁNCHEZ URTIZ

Mr. Armando Sánchez-Urtiz obtained his Law Degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in 1970 with the thesis “The Suspension in the Indirect Amparo Proceedings.” With more than 40 years of experience in the private and public sector, Mr. Sánchez-Urtiz starts his professional work in different law firms and private companies focus his practice in counseling, litigation and amparo procedings, basically in the administrative, civil, mercantile and labor, among others. In the private sector, Mr. Sánchez-Urtiz has collaborated in different law firms, such as, Ibañez, Bunt y Zamora; Goodrich y Riquelme; Martínez Laffan y Comella; Bryan González Vargas, among others, as well as in the law departments of companies like Servicios profesionales Construcción; Servicios Profesionales Ingenieria; Omni Construcciones and Grupo Argos. In the public sector, Mr. Sánchez-Urtiz performed his professional activity for 15 years in the Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos (BANOBRAS) in the legal and trust divisions in counseling and litigation. Thereafter, Mr. Sánchez-Urtiz worked in the legal- counseling divisions of the corporate area of Petróleos Mexicanos. Mr. Sánchez- Urtiz collaborated in the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of the Financial Services Users (CONDUSEF) in the conciliation, arbitration, public procurement, counseling and litigation, basically in the bank and insurance areas. In addition, Mr. Sánchez-Urtiz participated at Mexican National Railroads during the extinction period in the regularization real property division, labor litigation and Amparo proceedings. Likewise, Mr. Sánchez-Urtiz Acted as Legal Affairs General Director and Consultant of the Chairman of the Federal Court of Administrative Justice, formerly, Federal Fiscal and Administrative Justice Court.

Partner

GERARDO RODRÍGUEZ MONTES DE OCA

Gerardo Rodríguez Montes de Oca is currently the partner in the labor / social security and immigration area of Miranda & Estavillo S. C., a Mexican law firm with more than 47 years attending national and foreign clients in their businesses in Mexico.

He is a graduate the Universidad Intercontinental (Mexico), with a specialty in Labor Relations and a master's degree in Labor Law from the Instituto de Posgrado en Derecho.

With a professional practice of more than 15 years, he began his professional practice in different distinguished law firms in Mexico, as well as in Grupo Financiero Scotiabank, mainly in consulting, litigation, in the areas of labor law, social security and immigration.

His practice is focused on the litigation of labor claims, management of labor regulations, advice on labor matters, teaching courses on labor matters to company officials, attention to labor inspections issued by the labor authorities of Mexico, application of terminations of labor relationships, negotiations of severance of employees, union coordination through different labor unions, among others.

He has been a speaker in different forums such as the webinar organized by Thomson Reuters: "Subcontracting Reform, Challenges for legal management and how to deal with them"; Seminar "Mexico: Practical Aspects RH & Mobility" in Madrid, Spain; Seminar "Leaders in Human Resources" organized by Conference Management, among others.

Partner

BENEDICTO A. ZAPATA

Mr. Benedicto Zapata is a graduate of the prestigious Escuela Libre de Derecho, located in Mexico City, where he graduated in 1993 with honors for the thesis presented. Mr. Zapata also obtained an LL.M from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, USA. in 1998.

Mr. Zapata has focused his professional practice in the corporate and contractual area, working for many years for independent law firms and as in-house Counsel. Among other positions, he was in-house corporate lawyer for TV Azteca. He was also General Counsel for Latin America in GMAC Auritec, S.A., which was a subsidiary of the financial area of General Motors.

Mr. Zapata's career goes beyond the practice of law, as he has had the opportunity to work in regulatory and compliance assurance matters with the government of the Province of Alberta in Canada, where he worked for 8 years with the Alberta Energy Regulator (Alberta’s oil and gas regulatory agency) and held positions as Compliance Assurance Advisor and Compliance Officer.