The inheritance
Mexico's agrarian system is usually learned from the outside — a statute consulted when a deal touches ejido land. Our founding partner grew up inside it. His father is an agrarian lawyer, and the world of the ejido — the meetings, the parcels, the certificates, the disputes that outlive the people who started them — was the family's dinner-table conversation long before it became a practice area. Some children learned the names of ballplayers; in the Mendoza house, you learned that possession and ownership are not the same word, and why the difference decides everything.
That upbringing is now the firm's spine. Half of Mexico's territory is communal land governed by its own statute, its own registry and its own courts — and it sits exactly where foreigners buy, build and invest. When we say the agrarian check comes first, it isn't a marketing angle. It's the lesson this firm inherited before it was founded.
Terra firma is Latin for solid ground. We named the firm after the only thing worth standing on.
Who you'll work with
Gabriel Mendoza G.
Gabriel earned his law degree at ITESO, the Jesuit university of Guadalajara, and built his graduate formation at Universidad Panamericana, Campus Guadalajara — graduate specializations and a Master's degree — keeping his practice sharp through continuing programs with ANADE, Mexico's national association of corporate counsel, and ESADE.
His core has been the same from the beginning: representing foreigners in Mexico — personally, closely, in English — across the business practices their projects touch: corporate and transactional work, contracts, real estate and its agrarian layer, and the immigration steps that follow. A licensed Mexican attorney (cédula profesional) and a second-generation agrarian practitioner, he leads every matter himself: at Terra Firma you deal with your attorney, not with a case number.
Gabriel writes every article and guide published under this firm's name, and answers the free consultations personally. If you've read our work on ejido land, the fideicomiso or the Bacalar case — that's his red pen.
The team around your matter
Terra Firma works as a boutique: Gabriel as principal, supported by a team of Mexican attorneys and associates across our practice areas, and a working network built over years — court-certified expert translators (peritos traductores), notarial offices we trust, and local counsel in the regions where our clients buy and build. You always know who's handling your matter — and no part of Mexico is out of reach.
How we work
The source, not the story
We verify at the registries — RAN, Public Registry of Property, CONAGUA — never in the seller's folder. Findings in writing, with the legal basis cited article by article.
Flat fees, in writing, before we start
You know the cost before we begin. Litigation is quoted by stage. No open-ended hourly meters.
The answer you need
Sometimes our report says proceed with confidence; sometimes it says renegotiate. Either way, you decide with the full picture in front of you.
Talk to us
Twenty minutes, free, in English, your time zone. Bring the question — leave with the map.
Book your free consultationNot ready to talk? Start with our free guides, or watch Gabriel explain the law on YouTube.
Our office: Lope de Vega 26, Col. Arcos Vallarta, Guadalajara 📍 — clients are welcome in person or by video.
This page provides general information about the firm. Legal information on this site is not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. © 2026 Terra Firma Attorneys at Law · terrafirma.law