With presence in Houston following a 2017 merger with energy and maritime boutique Legge, Farrow, Kimmitt, McGrath & Brown, the UK-headquartered HFW is clearly bedding in to the US oil and gas capital. Having hired upstream expert Derek Anchondo from Greenberg Traurig a little over six months ago, the firm has now welcomed Fernando Cano-Lasa from Squire Patton Boggs.

This is only HFW’s second lateral hire in the US. Though Cano-Lasa was of counsel rather than partner at Squire Patton Boggs, he served at the firm for five years, following a six-year stint in-house at PEMEX Procurement International; this will position him well for Latin American mandates.

Though Cano-Lasa was brought on board to service clients’ transactional needs, HFW also handles anti-bribery compliance, environmental regulatory compliance and corporate compliance in the energy sector. The firm recently assisted a major global oil company with a deep-water farm-in project with PEMEX, which involved navigating Mexico’s new energy laws and criteria for upstream development.

HFW also foresees more energy disputes work in Latin America. “Venezuela will be a very interesting area to monitor”, partner Glenn Legge told Leaders League. “We hope that Venezuela will emerge from its current conflicts with a focus on improving its upstream, midstream and downstream capabilities.

“We are very excited to have Fernando join HFW,” Legge continued. “Fernando further expands our energy and resources and corporate transactional offerings in the US, Mexico and Latin America. There are great synergies between his legal practice and those of HFW. I was particularly interested in Fernando's willingness to help us grow and develop the transactional footprint for HFW USA, and to further expand our global legal services in energy and resources.”