María Luisa Cánovas

Canovas Law PLLC

"María Luisa Cánovas is a business-oriented lawyer who is highly experienced and practical"

Chambers Global & Latin America 2024

"The support of María Luisa Cánovas was decisive in bringing a complex transaction to fruition. Her experience made it possible to identify the core points of the negotiation so that it could be conducted efficiently. We are very satisfied with María Luisa's legal advice."

C. Ralon Orellana 2024

(Board President Agrokasa Holdings, Vice President of New Business Grupo Hame)

“In the deal that we hired María Luisa Cánovas for, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. Yet, she managed to get us both the best possible deal, and across the finish line. ”

A. de Daranyi 2023

(Sanofi's Legal Head of Debt Securities and Financings)

"María Luisa makes the M&A process so much less stressful. She knows what to do and makes it happen. She also has excellent communication abilities and demystifies complicated legal situations."

J. Marzo 2012 (Chief Operating Officer, Accendo Banco)

A former partner of both Jones Day and Hogan Lovells, María Luisa Cánovas has been ranked for more than a decade as a leading New York lawyer for M&A by, among others, Chambers Latin America (2024), Chambers Global (2024), The Legal 500 Latin America and Latinvex “Top 50 Female Lawyers in Latin America.” Spain’s Expansion Jurídica recently listed her as one of the top Spanish lawyers practicing in the U.S.

Since launching a boutique practice in 2022, María Luisa has continued to work for new and long-standing clients. Her representation as New York M&A counsel of Guatemala's Grupo Hame in the acquisition of the agrobusiness of Agrokasa (Peru) was shortlisted for the 2024 Latin Lawyer's and IFLR Americas Awards in the category of M&A. In addition, María Luisa is teaching several M&A courses at Columbia Law School. She also heads the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee of the Board of the Queen Sophia Spanish Institute in New York and is a member of the Board of the US-Mexico Bar Association and of the Finance Committee of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Professional Experience and Education

Professional Experience

María Luisa Cánovas has over 25 years of experience working on M&A transactions with a focus on Latin America. Recent relevant matters are listed below (please click arrow).

Education

María Luisa Cánovas is a Spanish native and also speaks English and French fluently. She holds the following Bar admissions: Spain (1991), Texas (1996), and New York (2000). A description of her educational background is below (please click arrow). See education related awards under Awards and Recognitions section.

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Professional Experience and Education

Teaching Experience

Strathmore (Kenya) 2024

Recent Academic Engagements:

Senior Fellow, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School (2026 - Present)
Columbia Law School, Cross-Border M&A Transactions Seminar (Global Law and Business Seminar) (2022-2026)
Columbia Law School, M&A Practice (Executive LLM in Global Business Law) (2022-2026)
Columbia Law School, Reid Hall (Paris), Cross-Border M&A Transactions Seminar (Global Law and Business Seminar) (April 2024-2025)
Strathmore Law School (Kenya), M&A Introduction Class (2022-2025)
Southern Methodist University, Deadman Law School, Centennial Celebration, Global Impact Panel (February 28, 2025)
Sorbonne, College de Droit (Paris 1), Negotiating Cross-border Deals Presentation (April 2024)
Universidad Panamericana (Mexico), M&A en América Latina: Desafíos y Oportunidades desde una Perspectiva Estadounidense (Executive LLM and Executive Business Seminar) (September 2022)

Recent Public Speaking Engagements:

IESE Business School, Webinar Panel, Investing in and from the U.S: Implications for Board Members (July 22, 2026)
Club de Ejecutivas Españolas en el Exterior y Delegación de España - CSW70, Panel Member on Women's Advancement (March 12, 2026)
Fordham Law School, M&A Introduction Class (Master's in International Law), Centro de Estudios Garrigues) (April 5, 2022)
New York City Bar, Webinar Panel, On Ramp to the Profession (January 12, 2022)
Columbia Law School, Guest Speaker, Cultural Pitfalls in International Negotiations, U.S. Business Law Academy (July 19, 2021); Guest Speaker, The Negotiation Workshop: The Woman Negotiator, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Luncheon (March 20, 2021)
Southern Methodist University Law School, Guest Speaker, Introduction to Cross-Border Negotiations, Commercial Real Estate Seminar (October 26, 2021; June 24, 2020)
IBA, M&A in Latin America Conference, Panelist (2015 - 2021)

Columbia (Paris) 2024

Board Engagement & Community Activities

In 2022, María Luisa Cánovas joined the board of the Queen Sophia Spanish Institute. In December 2023, she was elected as head of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committe. In April 2024, she was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Board.

In the photo above, María Luisa Cánovas greets Queen Sofia of Spain at an event held by the Queen Sophia Spanish Institute in Houston 2022.

Queen Sofia Spanish Institute (New York), Board Director, Head of Corporate Governance, Compliance & Nominating Committee (2022 – Present)
Brooklyn Public Library (Brooklyn, New York), Member of Finance Committee (2022 – Present)
Club Ejecutivas Españolas en el Exterior, Member (2022 – Present)
US-Mexico Bar Association, Board Director (2020 – 2025)
Latin American Council, New York State Bar Association, Member (2017-2021)
Women Empowered to Lead Program, Partner-in-Charge. Jones Day launched this program in 2017 in partnership with the NY Immigration Coalition to focus on the professional development and leadership skills of women immigrants in the city of NY (2017 - 2020)

After María Luisa Cánovas (right) left Jones Day, she continued working with her team at Jones Day to win asylum for her Laredo Project clients.

Awards & Recognitions

Ranked in Chambers Latin America: Latin America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for Corporate/M&A (2016-2024)
Ranked in Chambers Global: “Leaders in their Field” for corporate/M&A, Latin America-wide (2018-2024)

Ranked as a leading lawyer and as a leading U.S. lawyer with Mexico as a focus (2016-2022)

Top 50/100 Female Lawyers in Latin America (2012-2022)

Private Equity Deal of the Year 2012
Shortlisted M&A Deal of the Year 2024

Additional Academic Awards:

• Senior Fellow, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School (2026 - Present)

• Fulbright Scholar, Ruth Lee Kennedy Award (1994 -1995)

• Academy of American and International Law Fellowship Award (Summer 1992)

• International Bar Association 24th Biannual Conference Fellowship Award (September 1992)

• Erasmus Scholarship Award (1991)

Articles and Interviews:

Expansión Jurídica, Article: These Are the Top Spanish Lawyers in New York (January 24, 2023)

Jones Day, Article: Nationalism in Latin America Threatens Investors (February 1, 2022)

ICADE, Interview: Interview with ICADE (February 1, 2022)

Latin Counsel, Interview: Impact of COVID-19 in Law Firms (September 16, 2020)

Latin Lawyer, Article: Why Are Distressed Latin American Companies Seeking U.S. Insolvency Protection? (co-author, August 25, 2020)

Abogados (Argentina), Article: Restructuring Options Available to Argentine Companies in the U.S. (co-author (Beccar Varela), August 3, 2020)

Latinvex, Article: Resource Nationalism in Latin America (February 2022); Article: Latin America M&A’s Fourth Quarter Comeback? (July 15, 2020)

El Mercurio (Chile), Article: Chapter 11? A Restructuring Alternative For Big Companies (co-author (Morales & Besa), June 28, 2020)

Expansión (Spain), Article: Top Successful Spanish Professionals in New York (June 8, 2019)