An Interview With BGBG

Could you introduce yourself and BGBG?

My name is Carlos Bello. I am a founding partner in BGBG, a 23 years old Mexican law firm. And I’m the co-Head of the Telecom Media and Technology Practice, and of the Pro Bono committee. We have several areas, and we have a very strong focus and a lot of passion for telecommunication issues. Since our firm is kind of similar to a startup, at the very beginning it was difficult to do pro bono, but we've been institutionalizing it over the last years in the firm.

“We have to give back to the community.”

I'm also very active in different pro bono associations in Mexico, including Centro Mexicano Pro Bono, which I am counsel, which is the institution that is trying to professionalize pro bono among all firms. So BGBG is very active working on pro bono matters. That's the general scope of what BGBG is.

Can you tell me how and why you started to work with TSF pro-bono?

As a firm, we're trying to do a lot of pro bono work. We believe it's necessary, even for our own mindset. We have to give back to the community, as we have the possibility to. And I believe it's the duty of all lawyers to do some pro bono work: we make every lawyer in the firm do some. We're always looking for new Pro Bono clients.

We do some work with a firm called HWG and there we know Paul Margie. He called us to ask about some work for TSF. TSF is related to telecommunications and we're very passionate about telecom. My heart belongs to the satellite world, and I know TSF is very related to satellites. So as soon as Paul introduced us to TSF, we liked what we saw, what TSF does, and we decided to do the work on a pro bono basis. And we do the work for pro bono clients exactly as we do the work for the clients who pay.

“I think we’re helping Mexico, and we’re also helping the communities and the individuals that benefit from your work.”

So it’s been a wonderful relationship with TSF. We have several lawyers doing some work for you here in Mexico, and we’re really excited and honored to be doing this work with you. I think we’re helping Mexico, and we’re also helping the communities and the individuals that benefit from your work.

TSF: We are very grateful for the work that you are doing, it’s definitely very precious for the team in Mexico and for all of TSF as a whole. So thank you, again. And what is very interesting is what exactly you do with the team and the details of it, including formalizing alliances and partnerships.

BGBG has been helping TSF in formalizing alliances and partnerships for its access to information project in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. Why do you think it is important to give these relationships a more formal framework?

It is important as you say. And as I mentioned, we’re trying to institutionalize Pro Bono. Pro Bono should be something that is as recognized, as prepared as any other work. So for TSF to work together with other entities, it’s important to formalize such relationships because that gives seriousness to the work that you are doing and the work that they are doing, and it makes everybody commit a step further.

It also makes it work out for many years. You come up with a process to do all this work, and then it's easier to bring others on board. So formalizing it, in the medium and long term helps a lot, because you can help build the grounds for more pro bono work between you and your collaborators. And we feel happy to be part of those.

“You come up with a process to do all this work, and then it's easier to bring others on board.”

One of the main activities you carry out to support TSF is to accompany the team in the process of registering a representation office of TSF in Mexico. Can you tell me more about this, and why it's important?

We're supporting you to be recognized as an entity in Mexico. Why is it important? I think that Mexico is becoming an important country for TSF. More and more activities are being carried out. And at some point, you need to formalize and to have more presence.

“We helped you establish the branch of a foreign entity in Mexico. It will give you more presence and more recognition.”

It can involve labor rights to all the spectrum of having people and giving them the importance that they have for TSF. I think it's also a step giving seriousness of your commitment to the activities in Mexico.

So what we did was help you establish the branch of a foreign entity in Mexico. And that has given you and will give you more presence and more recognition before the people that you speak to, before all the companies that you work with and all the authorities. So we are very happy in helping on that and also helping on reviewing some of your agreements with other entities. We are waiting for more and more and more work, because we are confident that the work that you guys are doing, it's helping a lot and it's required, so we're happy if it grows.

Would you like to add anything?

For us, it's an honor and it's very exciting. We're very thankful to help you and our community. It's been a great opportunity, a great partnership. And we can help on many other issues. For example, with the work that we've been doing recently, people from the corporate area have been involved, people from the telecom area have been involved. We have all our lawyers to help TSF and to put you in touch with other entities that might help.

And I am sure we can always find someone else to work with and put these connections together to continue helping. It's gratifying. Younger lawyers like that a lot, it gives them an identity. And I think it also gives our firm an identity. It helps having this purpose. So we're very happy to do it and we'll continue working on that as long as it's possible. So thank you so much, and happy to be your partners.