Transform business insights into competitive advantage
Our Cross-Border Risk & Investigations practice delivers actionable intelligence for key executives facing high-stakes business or legal decisions. We don’t just gather facts—we uncover strategic opportunities while mitigating risks, protecting intellectual assets, and strengthening your market position in rapidly evolving digital landscapes.
From due diligence to dispute prevention, we uncover what matters across borders.
This practice area delivers strategic insight, risk evaluation, and dispute diagnostics to empower informed decision-making before litigation or enforcement begins. Our work rests on a three-part foundation:
1. Strategic Intelligence Gathering
Before strategy, there must be facts. We discreetly investigate counterparties, assets, and internal operations—surfacing critical information that informs risk exposure, validates concerns, and uncovers hidden opportunities. Clients move forward with clarity, not assumption.
2. Risk & Opportunity Assessment
We analyze legal positioning, evidentiary strength, and procedural strategy—identifying leverage points, vulnerabilities, and cross-border dynamics. Our goal is not just to predict outcomes, but to quantify the likelihood, cost, and consequence of each possible path.
3. Strategic Decision Framework
We help clients translate legal and factual insight into action—whether that means pursuing litigation, negotiating resolution, restructuring a relationship, or walking away. Our guidance focuses on clarity, cost-benefit analysis, and tactical execution across all available options.
Beyond Traditional Due Diligence
In today’s information-rich yet increasingly opaque business environment, conventional due diligence often falls short. Our specialized team combines advanced investigative methodologies with deep industry knowledge to illuminate what standard processes miss.
We help multinational enterprises navigate complex business challenges by providing intelligence that goes beneath surface-level data. Whether assessing potential partnerships, evaluating acquisition targets, or understanding competitor positioning, our approach delivers insights that drive strategic advantage and protect enterprise value.
Intelligence That Fits Your Needs
We view intelligence gathering as a collaborative process. Rather than delivering generic reports, we work closely with your leadership team to focus our investigations on the specific intelligence gaps that matter most to your strategic objectives.
This consultative approach ensures that our deliverables address your actual decision-making needs rather than simply providing interesting but ultimately peripheral information. The result is intelligence that directly supports your most consequential business decisions.
Contact our team to discuss how strategic legal intelligence can transform your approach to critical business decisions and create sustainable competitive advantage in today’s complex global marketplace.
The value of legal intelligence lies not in information volume but in its strategic application.
This tier often determines whether a matter proceeds to litigation—or is resolved through smarter, earlier intervention. It’s a critical front-end service that protects clients operating across the U.S.-Mexico business corridor. Here is a list of our practice areas and services:
Preemptive Legal Planning
When disputes emerge with Mexican partners, suppliers, or competitors, executives need clear answers about legal viability and strategic options. Comprehensive claim assessment analyzes the legal and factual foundation of potential claims or defenses, examining which courts have jurisdiction, what evidence is available, and how procedural differences between U.S. and Mexican legal systems affect positioning. These assessments help determine whether to pursue litigation, seek settlement, or walk away—before investing significant resources in formal proceedings.
A manufacturing company questioning whether their Mexican distributor's contract breach justified litigation received a detailed assessment showing strong breach claims but limited recovery prospects due to the distributor's financial condition. This analysis led them to pursue immediate asset seizure rather than lengthy litigation, ultimately recovering more value in six weeks than projected court judgments would have yielded over two years.
Winning a legal case is meaningless if you can't collect what you're owed. Before pursuing litigation against Mexican counterparts, executives need to know: Are there assets to recover? Can we actually enforce a judgment across borders? Will enforcement costs exceed the potential recovery?
For the logistics company owed $2 million by a Mexican freight partner, or the software firm considering action against a distributor who disappeared with licensing payments, we provide clear-eyed analysis of recovery prospects that helps you avoid expensive litigation with no meaningful payoff and focus resources on disputes where enforcement is actually feasible.
When disputes escalate, case strength often depends on having the right documents at the right time. Missing emails, destroyed contracts, or poorly organized records can undermine even strong legal positions—especially when evidence must meet different standards in U.S. and Mexican proceedings. Early identification, preservation, and organization of critical documents and communications reduces evidentiary risk, supports procedural compliance, and ensures strong positioning for court, arbitration, or settlement discussions.
A technology firm dealing with IP theft discovered that development records were scattered across multiple teams and jurisdictions, with crucial source code documentation stored on personal devices. Systematic evidence collection recovered deleted email chains showing unauthorized code transfers and organized technical records that proved ownership, ultimately providing the foundation for successful enforcement actions against former employees who had joined competitors.
Effective litigation requires understanding the full journey before taking the first step. Forward-looking litigation strategies outline key procedural stages, timing benchmarks, and resource considerations. This planning process helps clients anticipate critical decision points, evaluate costs at each phase, and determine when and how to proceed—ensuring they enter any dispute fully prepared with a clear roadmap to resolution.
When a clean energy company discovered their Mexican wind farm partner was diverting revenue streams, we developed a phased litigation strategy that mapped out discovery timelines, estimated costs for each stage, and identified three key decision points where they could reassess whether to continue or settle. This roadmap allowed them to budget appropriately and maintain control over the process rather than getting swept into expensive, open-ended litigation.
Internal & Counterparty Investigations
When companies suspect internal misconduct or regulatory exposure, swift but careful investigation is essential to uncover facts while preserving legal protections. Confidential, privilege-protected investigations use structured approaches to assess potential liability and support informed decision-making. This process enables proactive remediation while minimizing operational disruption and preserving legal defenses in case of future regulatory scrutiny or litigation.
A financial services firm suspected their Mexico City office was circumventing anti-money laundering protocols. The privilege-protected investigation revealed procedural gaps rather than intentional misconduct, allowing them to implement corrective measures and document remediation efforts before regulators became involved. This proactive approach avoided potential penalties while strengthening their compliance framework across both jurisdictions.
Before committing to deals or initiating legal action, understanding who you're dealing with can mean the difference between success and costly failure. Comprehensive investigation of prospective partners, counterparties, and adversaries uncovers legal, financial, and reputational risks that aren't apparent from standard business interactions. These reports expose red flags that can derail transactions, damage enforcement prospects, or strengthen negotiation leverage in commercial, regulatory, or dispute contexts.
An agricultural exporter considering a distribution partnership with a Mexican grain trading company discovered through due diligence that the potential partner had outstanding tax liens and was involved in ongoing litigation with two other U.S. suppliers. This information allowed them to restructure the deal with additional protections and escrow arrangements, avoiding what could have become a costly partnership with an unstable counterparty.
Successful recovery from fraudulent counterparties requires understanding where assets are hidden and how ownership structures obscure true control. Asset tracing and fraud investigation across U.S. and Mexican jurisdictions uncover beneficial ownership structures, reveal concealed resources, and identify nominee arrangements that debtors use to avoid obligations. These findings support litigation, settlement, and enforcement strategies by exposing financial behaviors that could otherwise impair recovery or weaken legal cases.
A paper manufacturing company pursuing collection from a Mexican distributor who claimed bankruptcy discovered through asset tracing that the debtor had transferred substantial real estate holdings to family members just weeks before claiming insolvency. This investigation revealed a clear pattern of asset concealment, strengthening their fraudulent transfer claims and ultimately leading to successful recovery of diverted funds.
Third-party relationships can create unexpected legal exposure when partners fail to meet compliance standards or governance expectations. Thorough evaluation of contractual partners, suppliers, and intermediaries identifies compliance vulnerabilities, governance weaknesses, and hidden legal risks before they become costly problems. This analysis supports informed engagement decisions, enables implementation of appropriate safeguards in high-risk relationships, and reduces exposure to liability or disruption stemming from third-party misconduct or failure.
A natural gas provider expanding pipeline operations in Mexico needed to assess local contractors handling environmental compliance and safety protocols. The risk assessment revealed that their preferred contractor had a history of regulatory violations and inadequate insurance coverage. Armed with this information, they selected a different partner and implemented enhanced monitoring procedures, avoiding potential environmental liability and operational delays.
Commercial Conflict Advisory
When partnerships deteriorate and joint ventures face tension, the response strategy can determine whether relationships can be salvaged or disputes escalate into costly litigation. Effective positioning in commercial breakdowns requires balancing rights enforcement with relationship dynamics—preserving leverage while avoiding premature escalation and creating the legal foundation needed for effective negotiation, resolution, or future litigation if necessary.
A media company's content licensing agreement with a Mexican broadcaster began deteriorating over territorial rights disputes. The response strategy documented contract violations while keeping communication channels open, preserving their ability to pursue legal remedies while creating space for renegotiation. This measured approach ultimately led to an amended agreement that satisfied both parties without destroying a valuable long-term relationship.
Cross-border business structures often contain hidden vulnerabilities that only become apparent when relationships deteriorate or disputes arise. Comprehensive analysis of existing structures identifies legal weaknesses—from poorly drafted contracts to governance gaps—and recommends corrective actions to strengthen positioning before conflict emerges. This proactive approach reduces litigation risk while enhancing the ability to restructure relationships or assert claims if negotiations fail.
A clean energy company with multiple solar projects across Mexico discovered their joint venture agreements lacked clear dispute resolution mechanisms and had ambiguous profit-sharing clauses that could trigger costly conflicts. The structural assessment identified these vulnerabilities and led to contract amendments that clarified decision-making authority and revenue allocation, preventing potential disputes while strengthening their legal position for future project expansions.
When business relationships become unsustainable, how you disengage can determine whether you walk away cleanly or face years of litigation and liability. Legally sound exit strategies identify contractual off-ramps, document breaches, and sequence communications to minimize exposure while preserving enforceability. This structured approach maximizes leverage whether resolution comes through negotiation or formal termination processes.
A professional services firm needed to exit a troubled consulting arrangement with a Mexican government contractor after discovering the partner was misrepresenting their regulatory approvals. The exit strategy documented the misrepresentations, invoked specific contract termination clauses, and sequenced communications to preserve their fee claims while avoiding potential liability for the partner's compliance failures. This careful disengagement protected both their reputation and financial interests.
Successful business negotiations require understanding both legal positioning and commercial dynamics before entering discussions. Strategic assessment of leverage points, counterparty motivations, and available alternatives enables development of negotiation plans that protect long-term interests. This guidance helps manage counterparties effectively and structure settlement proposals that often resolve disputes without the cost or uncertainty of litigation.
A natural gas provider facing contract renegotiation with a Mexican distribution partner used leverage assessment to identify the partner's financial constraints and regulatory dependencies. Understanding that the distributor couldn't easily replace their supply relationship, they structured proposals that addressed pricing concerns while maintaining favorable terms. This strategic approach secured a renewed agreement that satisfied both parties' needs without costly arbitration proceedings.
Multi-Jurisdiction Litigation Strategy
U.S. and international law firms handling matters with Mexican exposure often face unfamiliar procedural requirements and enforcement challenges that can derail otherwise strong cases. Behind-the-scenes guidance on jurisdiction, procedure, and enforcement helps litigation teams avoid costly missteps while optimizing their approach to forum selection, case sequencing, and judgment recovery across borders.
A New York law firm representing a technology company in patent litigation discovered their Mexican defendants were attempting to transfer assets before judgment. Advisory support helped them identify applicable Mexican attachment procedures and coordinate with local counsel to secure preliminary relief, preventing asset dissipation while their primary litigation proceeded in U.S. courts. This cross-border coordination preserved their client's ability to collect on an eventual favorable judgment.
Winning a judgment means nothing if you can't collect it. Identifying attachable assets across jurisdictions—including bank accounts, real property, shareholdings, and nominee structures—provides the foundation for informed litigation and enforcement decisions. This analysis helps prioritize claims, choose forums that maximize collection prospects, and assess whether pursuing a judgment or award will lead to meaningful recovery.
A financial services firm pursuing collection from a defaulted Mexican borrower discovered through asset tracing that the debtor maintained substantial U.S. bank accounts and owned commercial real estate in Texas, despite claiming insolvency in Mexico. This cross-border asset mapping allowed them to file attachment proceedings in the U.S. while pursuing their primary claims in Mexican courts, ultimately securing recovery from previously hidden assets.
Transnational litigation involves technical complexities that can create costly delays or procedural setbacks if not handled properly. Guidance through service of process requirements, evidence gathering protocols, and cross-border witness handling ensures procedural compliance and synchronization between U.S. and Mexican proceedings. This coordination prevents jurisdictional conflicts and maintains case momentum across multiple legal systems.
An agricultural exporter pursuing breach of contract claims against a Mexican distributor needed to serve process on defendants located across three Mexican states while coordinating discovery with parallel proceedings in Texas courts. Procedural coordination ensured proper service under Mexican law while synchronizing evidence collection timelines, preventing delays that could have undermined their ability to secure interim relief in both jurisdictions.
Where you file can determine whether you win or lose, regardless of case merits. Comparing potential venues and legal systems identifies forums that offer the best combination of substantive law, procedural advantages, and enforceability prospects. This analysis empowers clients to file first, file smart, and avoid defending disputes in disadvantageous jurisdictions.
A media company facing copyright infringement by a Mexican broadcaster had options to pursue claims in federal court in California, New York, or Mexico City. Jurisdictional analysis revealed that California offered the strongest damages framework and fastest preliminary relief procedures, while Mexican courts provided better enforcement mechanisms against local assets. This assessment led to a coordinated filing approach that maximized recovery prospects while minimizing defense advantages.