Mayer Brown, a global law firm, has hired Jose L. Valera to join its Houston office as a partner in the Corporate & Securities practice.
Valera focuses his practice on domestic and international energy transactions, and has more than 25 years of legal experience representing oil, gas and electric energy companies throughout the US, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. A native Spanish speaker, he has represented oil companies in their negotiations for exploration and production rights and M&A transactions in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Iraq, Russia, Peru and Venezuela. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.
Valera's addition is the third for the law firm in the past eight months as it works to expand its global energy practice. Dan Fleckman joined in June 2009 from Regency Energy Partners and Rob Goldberg joined from Chadbourne & Parke’s Houston office in May 2009.
A native of Peru, he earned a JD from the Catholic University of Peru and also earned a JD from the South Texas College of Law in Houston.