Santiago is a regulatory and environmental lawyer with extensive experience advising domestic and international clients on compliance, permitting, and risk mitigation. He has worked on high-profile matters across various industries, ensuring adherence to regulations, while preventing operational and regulatory risks.

His practice focuses on regulatory compliance, environmental impact and risk, water use, and land use through due diligence processes for M&A transactions and strategic guidance on sustainability and corporate governance. Santiago has successfully advised clients in securing key permits (including environmental impact authorizations) and optimizing regulatory strategies to implement best operational practices. His experience advising clients for the obtention of authorizations, concessions, and licenses includes their defense in administrative proceedings before competent authorities.

In addition to private practice in international law firms, Santiago also served as a law clerk at Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice, gaining valuable insight into regulatory decision-making and the authorities’ perspective. This experience allows him to anticipate regulatory trends and provide clients with strategic advice that ensures compliance while fostering operational efficiency.

Santiago received his Mexican law degree from Anáhuac University School of Law. He is a native speaker of Spanish, fluent in English and knowledgeable in French. He currently also serves as a Law professor at a private institution.

Recent work highlights

A selection of recent transactions and projects on which Santiago advised, include:

• Successfully advised several facilities to obtain “green tax” exemptions, generating savings of more than MXN 1.5M annually for several industries.
• Assisted banks in several due diligence processes for project financing of an EPC for more than MXN 27M, dedicated to the development of the Port of Altamira, Tamaulipas.
• Participated in administrative procedures against fines imposed by CONAGUA amounting to over MXN 500M to infrastructure facilities.
• Obtained wastewater discharge permits for water reuse, reducing its consumption by 85,150 m3 annually, thus resulting in economic and environmental benefits.
• Audited industrial facilities for their regularization and obtention of clean industry certificates, thus mitigating further operational and regulatory risks.
• Advised touristic facilities on the expansion of their previous Environmental Impact Authorizations of several resorts.
• Litigated an import restriction order from SEMARNAT, further allowing such import of 18,515 tons of plastic products destined for recycling.
• Successfully litigated sanctions from PROFEPA to avoid the precedent of a client as a polluter and economic sanctions.
• Prevented the closure of an industrial facility by municipal authorities, ensuring its continued operation and the production of approximately 300k of its units.
• Favorably litigated against sanctions from the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) imposed against an energy generation facility for more than MXN 9M.

Successfully defended several private energy generators against amendments to the Energy Industry Law through amparo proceedings.