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CANAdIANLAwyERMAG.COM/INhOUSE october 2014
W
hen Guillermo Cruz Rico
moved to Canada in 2005,
he left behind a life as a criminal
lawyer in Mexico City, the megalopolis
where he'd been born and raised. But in less than
a year, he had settled down in Toronto and was work-
ing as an in-house consultant for Greenspan Partners LLP, the reputed
criminal defence firm.
His fi rst case involved a liquidation that overlapped in Canada and Mex-
ico, where he was given responsibility over the Mexican side of the transac-
tion. "It was my fi rst exposure to the Canadian system," says Cruz Rico, in
a lilting Spanish accent.
He worked on a number of other fi les, both for Greenspan Partners and
on his own. Most of them involved Canadians running afoul of Mexican law
in one way or another. Some of his clients were facing charges of organized
crime and drug traffi cking.
At the time, the Mexican Drug War was just beginning to make headlines
internationally. In 2006, President Felipe Calderón had sent federal troops
into the state of Michoacán in an attempt to stop a wave of drug-related
killings. The incursions marked the beginning of a confl ict between the
Mexican state and drug cartels that would leave over 100,000 people dead
and still continues today.
Cruz Rico was not happy with the approach of the Calderón government.
The opening
up of Mexico's
oil and gas
industry offers
attractive
opportunities
for Canadians.
BY arshY mann
hen Guillermo Cruz Rico
moved to Canada in 2005,
he left behind a life as a criminal
lawyer in Mexico City, the megalopolis
