Greenberg Traurig's Mexico City brings in Holland & Knight team to launch labour practice

Greenberg Traurig's Mexico City brings in Holland & Knight team to launch labour practice

Partners Leslie Palma and six associates join the 60-person firm as shareholders in 'natural progression. 'A team from Holland & Knight has been brought into Greenberg Traurig's Mexico City practice to establish a labour and employment practice.

Leading the practice is Leslie Palma, who joined Holland & Knight as a partner in August and will serve as a shareholder at Greenberg. Associated attorneys Karla Alejandra Pe*a Copka, Alma Isabel D*az Cano, Jorge Arturo Andazola Martinez, Claudia Elsa Gonzalez Ramirez, Victor Adrián Reyes Tafoya, and José Alberto Ortiz Pérez are moving over with her.

The firm also added Counsel Marité Villanueva to its team for the launch in October. She previously worked at Lottus Education, as the head of labour and human resources.

Richard Rosenbaum, Greenberg executive chairman, explained that the opening of the offices in Mexico City fits into the company's global strategy to meet clients' legal needs and their increasing demands for top talent in a global marketplace that's becoming increasingly international.

"The addition of lawyers with experience in labor, employment, benefits, and compensation was a "natural progression" for Greenberg's Mexico City office," said José Raz Guzmán, managing shareholder in Mexico City and co-chairs of the firm's Latin America practice.

More than 60 Greenberg lawyers presently practice in Mexico City and are focused on general corporate law, energy, infrastructure, M&A, competition law, real estate, banking, securities, telecoms, compliance, administrative litigation and international dispute resolution.

As a senior counsel at Holland & Knight, Palma spent nearly nine years before being named a partner. Prior to joining Basham, Ringe y Correa, she worked at Thompson & Knight's Mexico City office. Among her consulting services are matters of employee retention, executive compensation, and labour-management relations.

Our advice is tailored to meet the specific needs of our clients by understanding their operations in depth, Palma explained. "Representing clients nationwide via Greenberg's extensive global network and having a great team behind me here in Mexico, I am looking forward to the meaningful work ahead of us."

Villanueva advises companies on layoff strategies, litigation, contingency plans to avoid employment liability and union negotiations as a former labour and employment lawyer at Cavazos Flores SC.

Villanueva said he is able to understand the corporate perspective on labour issues, allowing him to provide clients with more comprehensive advice. As part of a global team, I look forward to working with lawyers with deep ties to Mexico."

A team of seven lawyers, including one partner and two senior associates from Dentons, were hired in December to bolster Greenberg's Warsaw real estate practice, which lost 10 lawyers to CMS in November.

Ahead of Mishcon de Reya's planned IPO in October, Greenberg added seven litigators as shareholders, including all five partners in the highly-rated fraud defence and business disputes practice of the British firm.

Another labour law news item concerns the US labour and employment specialist, Littler, which opened its 100th office in Ghent in May through its Belgian partnership with Reliance Littler. In November, Littler expanded its European footprint through a partnership with Portuguese boutique law firm DCM Lawyers.