Attorney Hector Herrera, 36, practices in an area still fairly new to Mexico: environmental law. He says it wasn’t until the mid-1990s, with the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, that environmental law in the country came into its own. Originally a corporate lawyer, he has worked at Touche Ross International and Abogados Miranda, Estavillo y Hernandez, S.C., where he coordinated legal counsel for the Exxon Group in Mexico. Now in his own firm, Herrera Abogados, S.C. he says half his work comes from 20 foreign companies that invested in Mexico after NAFTA took effect. Co-author of several books on mining law and business in Mexico, Herrera is a member of the American Chamber of Commerce’s Environmental Committee, the Mining Chamber of Mexico’s Ecology and Natural Resources Commission and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. He served as the association’s Environmental Law Committee vice chairman from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Herrera spoke with EcoAméricas correspondent Andrea Dabrowski in Mexico City.