He is mostly noted for his works on labour law, Derecho Mexicano del Trabajo (1938) and El Nuevo Derecho Mexicano del Trabajo (1972), which remain in wide use as textbooks across Latin America.
Infused with the spirit of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, they conceptualized Mexican labour law as having the protection of workers' rights as its chief purpose.
De la Cueva was also a leading advisor in the 1970 revision of the Mexican Labour Code.
[1] In 1939, as general secretary of the university, Mario de la Cueva proposed to the poet Jorge González Durán, at the time a student of the School of Philosophy and Literature, the creation of a university literary magazine.
This publication would be called Tierra Nueva, with its first issue appearing in January 1940, and edited by González Durán, together with Leopoldo Zea, José Luis Martínez, and Alí Chumacero.