Miami lawyers pick up work in Mexico

www.miami.com Posted on Mon, Feb. 17, 2003

Jose Valdivia and Miguel Zaldivar are traveling south of the border. The two Miami lawyers have picked up a piece of legal work for Hogan & Hartson worth more than $1 million. Hogan & Hartson won over four other law firms to serve as counsel to Pemex in its construction of a petrochemical complex in Mexico. The site hasn't yet been selected. Pemex is the Mexican state-owned oil company. The lawyers will work with Mexican counsel Haynes & Boone and with consultants Charles River Associates from Houston.

''We had all the right people,'' Zaldivar said. ``Also key is we had the ability to do the documents in Spanish and English.''

The right people included Flavio Principe, former general counsel of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, now in Hogan's Miami office, and Tovan McDaniel from Hogan's Washington office. Hogan also has Berlin, London and Paris offices, crucial for tapping overseas investors.

Hogan gets paid a flat fee, at least for phase one, through the end of February. Seven lawyers in the Miami office are working on the matter. The initial phase calls for drawing up bid documents for the selection of investors. The firm will analyze Pemex's potential role in the project. If the law firm continues as counsel during the next phase, its Miami office could become home for road shows and data analyses for Latin American investors. Miguel Espino, a Pemex attorney, is working from Hogan's Miami office.

A number of international companies are reported to be interested in participating with Pemex in the project. The initial investment is anticipated to be in the range of $1 billion to $2 billion.

In another coup for Hogan & Hartson, Paul F. Hancock, former Florida deputy attorney general in charge of South Florida offices, has joined the firm's Miami office as of counsel practicing in its litigation group.