Our Origins and Mission

OUR ORIGIN

On September 2010, José María Abascal and Romualdo Segovia founded a boutique specialized in national and international commercial arbitration, commercial litigation, corporate and transactional law, mergers and acquisitions, workouts, general corporate and corporate securities matters and transactional businesses.

With more than 50 years of practicing experience, Jose Maria Abascal was a solo practitioner in many domestic business trials and national and international commercial arbitration proceedings, both as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator or presiding numerous arbitration panels, and advising clients in all kinds of arbitration proceedings and litigations. He has represented Mexico before the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, where he presided over said Commission in 1992, and the Arbitration Working Group thereof from 2000 through 2006. He participated as Commissioner of the United Nations Security Council Compensation Commission from 1986 through 2003. He was member of the Board and the Executive Committee of the American Arbitration Association, that in 2006 granted him the Outstanding Member Board Award, and presided over the Mediation and Arbitration Commission of the National Chamber of Commerce of Mexico City.

Romualdo Segovia has more than 25 years of professional experience.  He worked as a foreign associate at Sherman & Sterling in New York City for more than a year. Before that he was an associate at the Mexican law Firm Martinez y Comella in the late 80s. He subsequently joined as a partner in the Mexico City office of Haynes and Boone where he practiced until July 2010. Romualdo Segovia has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate securities, all types of financing transactions and workouts, and other international transactional business, and in commercial arbitrations, both as arbitrator and advising clients in the related areas, with 25 years of professional experience.

Jose María and Romualdo have worked together in the past on international arbitration and transactional matters attending all type of clients.

Héctor Flores started as an associate in Abascal, Flores y Segovia since the beginning in August of 2010, becoming a partner of the firm since August of 2014.  Since 2004, his professional practice has been focused, on the one side, in the practice of arbitration and commercial litigation, and in parallel, in the advisory on diverse topics including corporate, transactional and commercial, to all kinds of national and international clients.  He is professor of commercial arbitration at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México since 2010.  He is a member of the Commission of External Advisors in Private International Law of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

MISSION

Our mission and focus is to provide our clients legal advice and service in the areas of our expertise with the highest quality and ethical standards, and afford the best value to our clients.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts have always been a problem at large firms. That problem became dramatically worse following the economic downturn. We saw a need for a top-quality firm that did not have those conflicts.

COSTS

Large firm cost and fee structures make it difficult for small and large clients alike on all types of cases. We believe our clients are in continuous pursuit of high quality legal services at reasonable costs. Our boutique is based on low costs and small overhead, and provides the best value for our legal services and advice.

The Abascal, Flores y Segovia team delivers the same quality legal work of large international firms, but with the freedom to serve a broader range of clients and the economics to help those clients with a broader range of their needs. We have established strategic relationships with other law firms in all areas of the law whose work we coordinate for the benefit of our clients, having access to their lawyers and associates when cases or matters so require.

Commercial Arbitration and Business Litigation

Our Firm has extensive experience in handling all types of national and international commercial and business litigation. We have advised clients in proceedings outside Mexico, bringing a global perspective to our clients. Our strategic alliances allow us to design the appropriate strategies for our clients to succeed in complex litigation matters or facilitate their business objectives or settlement opportunities. We have handled all types of national and international disputes for our clients including joint ventures and strategic alliances, public and private construction works, mergers and acquisitions transactions disputes, shareholder actions, insolvency, workouts and restructuring litigation, single bank and syndicated credit facilities, structured finance disputes and derivatives. We also have experience involving cross-border litigation, with knowledge and experience of the American judicial system that facilitates our coordination with legal counsel of common law systems. We have handled discovery proceedings in aid of foreign proceedings as well, and the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards in Mexico.

Mergers and Acquisitions

We have extensive experience in multi-million dollar mergers and acquisition transactions involving all types of businesses, including in the areas of cement, petrochemicals, construction, beverage, financial services, real estate investment funds and risk capital, maritime, railroad and truck transportation, ports, auto parts, warehousing, commodities and manufacturing industries, among others.  We have advised national and international companies on responsibilities and duties of directors of Mexican companies, including litigation in connection with those matters.

General Corporate and Corporate Securities

We provide corporate legal services in general: corporate governance, day-to-day legal matters for all types of companies, instrumentation of businesses and transactions, consulting in legal-commercial issues and all kinds of contracts.

We have advised clients in all types of joint ventures and strategic alliances of Mexican and Non-Mexican companies in all types of businesses, and to national and foreign investment bankers and issuers in private and public placement of securities by Mexican entities, including securitization transactions.

We have extensive experience advising both Mexican issuers and securities holders in initial public or private offerings and in consent solicitations and exchange offers involving workouts in Mexico and abroad in coordination with foreign law firms in the United States.

National and International Workouts

Our boutique firm has extensive experience involving businesses restructurings and workouts, including the pre-pack financial reorganization of Mexican companies, both in Mexico and in proceedings involving Mexican companies in the United States in coordination with other U.S. firms. We have also have experience in concurso mercantil and bankruptcy proceedings and litigation.  José María Abascal chaired the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee of the Mexican Bar Association, and actively participated in the design and promulgation of Mexico’s current bankruptcy and reorganization law (Ley de Concursos Mercantiles). He actually authored the first draft of law for Congress to review and approve.