International law firm McDermott Will & Emery announced that leading emerging markets and private equity lawyer, Daniel Chavez, has joined the Firm as a partner in the Energy Advisory Practice Group in the New York office. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Chavez was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Zaff Capital LP, a private equity firm specializing in emerging markets, with a focus on Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
Mr. Chavez has spent more than a decade working on a variety of transactions in the energy, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors in Latin America. Mr. Chavez has extensive experience in structuring private equity investments and in negotiating and executing cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures in these sectors.
Mr. Chavez’s experience with emerging markets will prove valuable as Latin American countries increasingly accommodate foreign investment in their energy and natural resources sectors. Mexico, for example, has recently amended its constitution to open up its energy sector to international investors. Also, countries like Columbia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina are all said to have aggressive plans to build additional electric generating capacity. Mr. Chavez will help McDermott’s Energy Advisory Practice Group in representing clients in these emerging markets, while also generally helping to expand the Firm’s energy, natural resources, and infrastructure transactional practice.
“We believe that Latin America and the Caribbean will provide tremendous opportunities in the coming years for international investment in the energy and natural resources sectors,” notes Blake H. Winburne, global head of McDermott’s Energy Advisory Practice Group. “Daniel is a highly experienced practitioner in these markets, with a fantastic reputation and network of contacts. By joining McDermott, he has become an important part of a full service team that has deep experience in the energy and natural resources sectors and is committed to expanding its presence in the Latin America and Caribbean region.”
Mr. Chavez received his Bachelor of Laws (J.D. equivalent) from Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City, followed by an L.L.M. from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Cornell University. He is a native Spanish speaker.
McDermott Will & Emery’s Energy Advisory Group represents U.S. and international energy and natural resources clients in complex transactional, regulatory, enforcement, litigation, and tax matters. The Firm’s highly integrated team of lawyers has extensive experience in the electric power, oil and gas, renewable energy, mining, infrastructure, and commodity trading sectors. Clients include private equity investors, multinational energy companies, strategic investors, financial institutions, commodity marketers, independent power and gas producers, developers, industrial and commercial customers, and trade associations.
