Mexico investors bypass London, lawyers warned

The City is failing to capitalise on strong investor interest in Mexico, with New York remaining the dominant securities market for inward investment, a conference held at the Law Society heard today.  

‘Securities are choosing New York, not London,’ Yves Hayaux-du-Tilly, head of the London office of Nader, Hayaux & Goebel, cautioned the sixth annual Lex Mex conference.  

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‘There is an opportunity for London,’ Hayaux-du-Tilly insisted. ‘[But] London is not pulling its weight – it is not even picking a fight with New York,’ despite being a natural ‘route for investments’ from Asia and the Middle East.

Earlier, conference attendees heard that closer relations between British and Mexican courts and lawyers were central to improving trade and investment.

Mexican supreme court justice Fernando Franco said: ‘One of the purposes of my visit is to form a serious relationship and serious agreement with Great Britain’s judiciary.’

The way for closer relations between Mexico and the UK had been cleared, he noted, through legal reforms where the supreme court had taken a lead. Since a court ruling in 2010, judgments from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have been binding on Mexican courts.

Mexico supreme court decisions on areas such as the role of the military, same-sex marriage and the rights of indigenous peoples had also informed regional jurisprudence on human rights.

The work of the supreme court, justice Franco said, aimed to support ‘security, tranquility and faith in institutions and procedures’. 

Lady Justice Arden confirmed the contribution of Mexico’s supreme court to human rights law was ‘distinguished’.

At the start of the day a memorandum of understanding signed by Law Society president Robert Bourns and the Mexican national bar association’s president Ricardo Cervantes Vargas (pictured) recognising ‘shared principles’, including a commitment to protect the rule of law and the legal profession, and promote dialogue and professional standards.

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Mexico investors bypass London, lawyers warned