Biography
Eduardo Mayora is Mayora & Mayora’s regional managing partner and son of Eduardo Mayora Dawe, founder of the firm. He has been an attorney and notary since 1980 and has various postgraduate degrees (including doctorates) in law and economics. A renowned Guatemalan lawyer, Mayora’s practice includes banking and finance, commercial, securities, arbitration, administrative and fiscal matters. A distinguished academic, he teaches at the Francisco Marroquín University Law School in Guatemala City.
Questions & Answers
Thought Leaders 2023 - Interview with Eduardo Mayora
Can you briefly describe your career to date?
My career has been very fulfilling. It has allowed me to be creative and even to devise legal solutions that, turned into law, have had an impact on the operation of a whole industry – the telecoms industry. I have had the opportunity to appear before the highest court in the land regarding matters of public scope; I have handled deals that inaugurated a new era in the provision of electric utilities; and I have advised our central bank regarding important revisions to the financial legislation of the country. It has been an exciting career, which has also included responsibilities as a managing partner and spearheading our firm’s geographical reach to other countries in Central America.
What do you enjoy most about being a lawyer in your practice area?
What I enjoy most is reaching a point in an analysis where I have the certainty that my mind has grasped the essence of the problem and devised a reasonable and sound solution, aligned with the interests of our clients.
What was the most challenging case or transaction you have ever worked on and why?
I was lead counsel for the privatisation of the telecoms industry, and, after that process, one of the players in the industry hired me. The government that succeeded the one that undertook the privatisation process challenged the legal validity thereof and thus instituted legal proceedings against my client’s rights. My responsibility was huge because I was not only the lawyer in charge of defending the client against this challenge, but had also been the one who conceived the process in question.
What are the greatest challenges for lawyers in your practice area in your country this year?
This has been a peculiar time for obvious reasons, and I think that lawyers have faced the challenge of knowing how to be there for their clients in circumstances that, to many of them, have been dramatically different.
How do you expect your practice to evolve over the next five years?
I envision a situation where I will gradually turn more into an advisor or counsellor to my partners, who may want to use my experience in their practice.
What do clients look for when selecting you as a lawyer?
I think that I am considered a prudent yet creative and problem-solving professional, who will make sure that everything follows the law and will offer yet more efficient solutions.
How would you like to see your law firm develop in the coming years?
One of our strategic goals is to offer our clients a regional professional organisation; I think that we are already halfway in that direction but need to complete it. We also need to go more in-depth in certain technological aspects, such as AI, and become a leader in our region in this field.
You have enjoyed a very distinguished career so far. What would you like to achieve that you have not yet accomplished?
Just this spring, I agreed to run for the Guatemalan Constitutional Court; the process is still in progress. We have to wait and see what happens.
