There is only one category of lawyer under Mexican Law: a person that has been "admitted to practice".

After completing high school education, students interested in becoming lawyers in Mexico must complete four to five years of legal education (depending on the university of choice). They have options in relation to receiving their degree in law (professional exam, major degree, master's degree and so on) and must subsequently receive their professional licence to qualify as lawyers. Professional licences are issued by a federal authority, the General Professions Bureau (Dirección General de Profesiones). To gain the licence, the university will process the issuance request directly with the General Professions Bureau.

Foreign lawyers can be qualified to practise in Mexico if an international treaty exists between Mexico and the home country of the foreign lawyer. If there is no such treaty, the practise of law by the foreign lawyer in Mexico will depend on the international reciprocity between the two countries and the fulfilment of all the requirements established under Mexican law.

The foreign lawyer's legal education must be equal or similar to what is required for Mexican lawyers. The legal studies of the foreign lawyer can be partially or completely revalidated in Mexico).

Foreign lawyers who have revalidated their legal studies must undertake and successfully pass a legal exam to be admitted to practice in Mexico. Only once these issues are settled will a foreign lawyer be able to register their professional licence to practise in Mexico.

The above requirements are in addition to any immigration requirements necessary for working in Mexico.

All lawyers (foreign and domestic) must obtain their professional licence to practice the legal profession in Mexico, by completing their legal studies and/or fulfilling the requirements set out in Question 2. There are no special or additional requirements for in-house lawyers.

In accordance with the Mexican Constitution (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), professional licences to practise as lawyers are issued by the General Professions Bureau, which is a federal authority. Licences issued by the General Professions Bureau are valid in all states within Mexico, regardless of the place of issuance, and there are no limitations on lawyers advising throughout the country. However, there are certain restrictions regarding notaries, as they cannot conduct litigation in court on behalf of someone else. Notaries can only exercise their functions in the territory of the federal entity to which they are assigned

There are no written codes of conduct or handbooks that are mandatory for lawyers under Mexican legislation. Lawyers in México must however comply with the provisions of Articles 231 and 232 of the Federal Criminal Code, violations of which can result in imprisonment, fines and/or suspension from practice.

In Mexico, there are various civil bar associations in the various states, created by lawyers looking to promote, develop and share with other lawyers information, knowledge and judicial methods in connection with the practise of the legal profession. These associations are private entities that are not established or related to any national or regional government authority.

These private bar associations generally establish their own codes of conduct for their members to abide by. However, if a member of certain bar association breaches the association's internal codes of conduct, they will only be disbarred.

There is no specific legislation governing the legal profession in Mexico. However, each state of Mexico has its own Professions Law which regulates the exercise of all professions that require a licence to practise in Mexico.

According to Article 1 of the Federal Civil Procedure Code (Código Federal de Procedimientos Civiles), only a person with an interest in the judicial authority declaring or constituting certain rights or imposing a sentence and the opposing party (either personally or through their legal representatives) can conduct litigation in court. Therefore, parties are entitled to represent themselves and/or be represented by their legal representatives in court proceedings.

Law firms in Mexico are usually organised as Civil Corporations (Sociedades Civiles), which are essentially limited liability business entities. Civil Corporations are governed via a Partners Meeting administrated by the Administrator Partners, and can be monitored by an Audit Committee.

MDPs are allowed in Mexico. However, they are not common. The common practice is to hire specialised services providers for the services in which they are specialists.

Alternative legal service providers are common. They are usually hired over a fixed-fee basis or by a lump-sum price, and the services provided by these alternative service providers are not very specialised.

Foreign lawyers can provide specialised services in Mexico in their capacity of "foreign lawyers", particularly if stipulated in the provisions of trade agreements executed by Mexico and several other countries. Similarly, foreign lawyers and law firms can establish a commercial presence in Mexico, provided they comply with Mexican legislation.

Foreign lawyers who do not comply with requirements set out in Question 2 cannot represent clients in court, and falsely conducting themselves as lawyers admitted to practice in Mexico is a prohibited act under the Professions Law.

There are no restrictions on self-employed lawyers providing legal services on a freelance basis under Mexican legislation.

See Question 2 and Question 3.

Mexico does not have a bar system.

See Question 2 and Question 3.

When lawyers are qualified to exercise the legal profession in Mexico, they do not need to describe themselves in a different way to other lawyers.

There is no national regulator of the legal profession in Mexico. However, there are several national bar associations that have internal advisory and disciplinary functions, but since there is no national regulator under the Mexican legislation, it is difficult to compel lawyers to act in certain ways as they only have internal disciplinary functions.

The General Professions Bureau has a register for lawyers that have been admitted to practise law in Mexico. It is possible to search for lawyers on the database by entering the lawyer's professional licence number. However, this register is only helpful if the person searching the register knows the lawyer's professional licence number.

However, the various private bar associations in Mexico (see Question 5) offer public registers on their websites, which people can access freely to check which lawyers are affiliated to which bars.

Being a member of a bar association is optional in Mexico (see Question 5). There is no national regulator of the legal profession in Mexico (see Question 13).

There is no independent disciplinary tribunal in Mexico. However, the various private bar associations in Mexico bar associations in Mexico (see Question 5) have their own disciplinary functions and sanctions. These sanctions are only applicable to the lawyers who are members of such bar association. The highest sanction involves expulsion from the bar association.

In general, lawyers do not need to have indemnity insurance under Mexican law. However, for notary publics and commercial notaries, it is mandatory.

According to the Notary Law for Mexico City (Ley del Notariado para el Distrito Federal), notaries must contract for indemnity insurance straight after receiving their notary certificate and this must be renewed each year (section I, Article 67).

Regarding the commercial notaries, according to the Commercial Notary Federal Law (Ley Federal de Correduría Pública), all commercial notaries must grant the security as required by the Ministry of Economy (Secretaría de Economía) before acting as a commercial notary (section I, Article 12). This is to ensure that the commercial notary properly exercises and carries out their functions.

Lawyers cannot represent a client if the client's interest in a business (or a related business) is opposed to or in conflict with their own interests (subsection I, Article 232, Federal Criminal Code (Código Penal Federal)).

There is no further regulation regarding the conflicts of interest. However, in practice, when a lawyer becomes aware of the conflict, this should be disclosed to the parties as soon as they have knowledge of it.

See Question 18.

It is not usual to act for either/both parties when a conflict arises, but it is possible. This is provided, however, that the lawyer discloses the situation to the parties (in which case the lawyer cannot receive any information from the other party).

Complaints about a lawyer's professional conduct can be made to the bar association where the lawyer is affiliated (if the lawyer has signed up to such organisation) but the sanctions will only be internal. Otherwise, the claimant can challenge the lawyer's professional conduct in court, arguing malpractice of the legal profession.

Lawyers or law firms cannot hold client files, money or property during a dispute regarding a client's retainers or fees.

Client engagement communications typically include the professional services agreement to be executed between the lawyer and the client, along with the tariff of the lawyer and/or the fees arrangement. However, there are no mandatory provisions that must be included by law.

Legal professionals have on-going obligations in relation to their clients.

The Federal Criminal Code dictates that lawyers in Mexico who have already initiated a defence cannot abandon the case without a justified reason and causing damage. In this context, "damage" means any negative effect on the client's legal status as result of the lawyer abandoning the case without a justified reason.

Legal professionals can refuse to accept an instruction or cease to act for a client if the instructions or actions involve the crimes listed as follows (among others):

(Articles 231 to 233, Federal Criminal Code).

There is only one type of lawyer in Mexico (see Question 1). There are no restrictions on clients hiring lawyers under Mexican law and clients are free to hire whichever lawyer they choose.

Lawyers are bound by client confidentiality rules and have a general duty to maintain the professional secrecy of their clients. Confidentiality represents both a right and a duty (it is a right in the sense that the lawyer must refuse to disclose the client's confidential information, and a duty in that the lawyer cannot testify against and/or disclose information against the interest of its clients).

There may be exceptions to client confidentiality rules where, for example:

See Question 27.

There is no binding rule regarding this matter under Mexican law. However, the last non-binding precedent stated that professional secrecy does not apply to in-house counsel due to the employment relationship.

In general, legal fees are not regulated under Mexican law, except for notaries, which have a specific tariff rate established in the Notary Law.

There are three common fee agreements in Mexico:

Clients can also opt for a combination of the above fee types.

There is no regulation regarding the handling of client funds under Mexican law. For money laundering matters, see Question 34.

The Federal Law on the Prevention and Identification of Operations from Illicit Sources (Ley Federal Para La Prevención E Identificación De Operaciones Con Recursos De Procedencia Ilícita) (Anti-Money Laundering Law) provides AML supervision for all sectors in Mexico. In particular, the Anti-Money Laundering Law establishes the following obligations for the legal sector (sections XI and XII, Article 17):

Mexico's Treasury Department, through the Financial Intelligence Unit, is the body responsible for the supervision and compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Law for all sectors, including the legal sector.

Notaries will be required for share transfers only if the shares are being transferred through a donation and the value of the shares exceeds MXN5,000.

For real estate purchases, notaries are only required if the value of the real estate exceeds MXN75,555 as of 1 January 2023 (Article 2320, Federal Civil Code).

Notaries are also required for the incorporation of a new company.

Notary fees can be either fixed or a percentage of the transaction, depending on what has been agreed with the client. However, in each case the fee agreement must be in accordance with the tariff rate set out in the Notary Law. Otherwise, notaries can be sanctioned or even have their notary certificate withdrawn.

Notaries cannot work within law firms (Articles 32 and 33, Notary Law).

There is a national regulatory body called the National Notary Public Association, but it is not mandatory for notaries to be members of this organisation. In most local juruisidctions, depending on the Notary Law of each entity, it is a requirement for Notaries to belong to the College of Notaries (Colegio de Notarios) of their respective entity