Descalzo Law is pleased to announce a strategic collaboration with Estefania Medina-Ruvalcaba, a New York- and Mexico-licensed attorney, strengthening the firm’s cross-border investigations practice and its ability to represent clients in matters involving the United States, Mexico, and Latin America.
Estefania will serve as Strategic Counsel to Descalzo Law on cross-border matters, bringing substantial experience in government investigations, anti-corruption litigation, whistleblower matters, complex litigation, and enforcement proceedings. Licensed in both New York and Mexico, and fluent in English and Spanish, Estefania offers clients a rare combination of U.S. and Mexican legal experience, cultural fluency, and practical judgment.
Estefania is also a founding partner of Bold & Brief, a boutique law firm with a presence in New York City and Mexico. Through this collaboration, Descalzo Law and Estefania are able to provide clients with sophisticated cross-border counsel while preserving the discretion, responsiveness, and personal attention of a boutique practice.
The collaboration brings together years of large-firm experience, government service, trial experience, and cross-border investigations work in a boutique setting designed for clients facing sensitive, high-stakes matters across jurisdictions.
“Cross-border investigations require more than knowledge of the law in one jurisdiction,” said Marissel Descalzo, founder of Descalzo Law. “They require strategic judgment, cultural fluency, language fluency, and the ability to guide clients through every stage of a matter — from the earliest investigation through trial. Estefania brings exceptional experience in both the United States and Mexico, and our collaboration strengthens the sophisticated, bilingual representation we provide to clients facing high-stakes matters.”
Estefania has represented individuals and whistleblowers in sensitive cross-border investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Bank Secrecy Act, Commodity Exchange Act, fraud, anti-money laundering allegations, and related enforcement matters before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other agencies.
In Mexico, Estefania served in senior government roles, including as a Federal Prosecutor and Head of the Immediate Attention Unit of Internal Affairs at Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. She also served as an advisor to the Office of the Executive Secretary of Mexico’s National Security System and as a consultant for both the U.S. Embassy and the U.K. Embassy in Mexico.
Before practicing in the United States, Estefania was a Mexican anti-corruption litigator and co-founder of TOJIL, a nonprofit organization focused on combating corruption and impunity. Through that work, she helped secure the first judgment recognizing a nongovernmental organization as a victim of corruption in a criminal prosecution, allowing the organization to participate as a party in criminal proceedings. The groundbreaking case reached the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and helped advance innovative anti-corruption criminal litigation across Latin America.
Estefania currently serves as Vice President of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce Mexico Chapter. She previously served as a member of the Reforma Newspaper council and as a weekly commentator on Bloomberg Financial TV. In 2024, she was honored as a Woman of Excellence by the Women Economic Forum in New York.
Together, Descalzo Law and Estefania offer clients a bilingual cross-border team with significant large-firm, government, investigative, enforcement, and trial experience. The collaboration is designed for individuals, executives, companies, professionals, and whistleblowers whose matters require discretion, judgment, cultural fluency, and sophisticated advocacy across borders.
