Experience

Arbitration & Litigation

• Lead counsel in a domestic commercial arbitration between a multinational company doing business in Ecuador and a local contractor at the Arbitration Centre of the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce.
• Lead counsel to a multinational company in a series of court actions against the Ecuadorian antitrust agency.
• Member of the team that produced various expert witness reports submitted in PCA Case No. 2009-23, Chevron Corporation and Texaco Petroleum Company vs The Republic of Ecuador.
• Advisor on questions of Ecuadorian Private International Law to a party involved in cross-border family law dispute in Florida.
• Leader of the team that produced various expert witness reports on Ecuadorian law submitted in the case of Contecon Guayaquil S.A. et al vs Ikaria Maritime Corporation, in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division, Admiralty Court.
• Advisor to a foreign investor on various questions of Ecuadorian public and commercial law in the context of a PCA investment arbitration against the Republic of Ecuador.
• Advisor to a foreign investor regarding a series of potential enforcement procedures against the Ecuadorian government.
• Member of the team that represented the claimant in ICSID Case No. ARB/04/19, Duke Energy Electroquil Partners and Electroquil S.A. vs Republic of Ecuador.
• Member of the team that represented a global telecommunications company in an AAA arbitration concerning ownership of an undersea fiber-optic network encircling South America.
• Advisor to an international insurance company regarding an ICSID arbitration between a foreign investor and the Republic of Ecuador.
• Advising a foreign construction group with regard to a potential dispute with a local partner in Ecuador.
• Advising a US investor regarding the potential execution of a UK arbitration award in Ecuador.

Competition Law

• Lead advisor in a multijurisdictional antitrust investigation involving local and foreign companies in Ecuador, including representing a company in a leniency application before the local antitrust authority.
• Advisor to a multinational industrial goods company, in connection with antitrust questions related to its entry into the Ecuadorian market.
• Advisor to a consumer goods group with questions regarding the antitrust implications of its distribution agreements.
• Representing a multinational company in administrative proceedings before the antitrust authority regarding alleged anticompetitive practices.

Corporate Law and M&A

• Advising a US consumer goods multinational company, regarding its relations with distributors in Ecuador.
• Advising a European conglomerate, in connection with its purchase of a large consumer goods and processed foods operation in Ecuador.
• Counseling a foreign chemical goods producer on a number of corporate-law related questions, including the distribution of its products in Ecuador.
• Advised an agricultural products group with regards to certain potential M&A transactions in Ecuador.

Credentials and Memberships

• Admitted to practice in Ecuador (2007).
• Admitted to practice in New York State (2014).
• Past Co-Chair of the Latin America Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, and current member of the Group.
• Member of the Young Lawyer’s Council of the Latin American Regional Forum of the International Bar Association.
• Member of the ADR Comission for Ecuador of the International Chamber of Commerce, Ecuador Chapter.
• Board Member of the Ecuadorian Arbitration Institute.

Education

• New York University School of Law, LL.M. (2010)
• Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Attorney LL.B. (2007)
• Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, B.S. in International Politics and Certificate in Latin American Studies (2000).

Publications

• “Ecuador and ISDS – A Rough Journey and a Possible New Beginning”, Investment Claims (OUP Online), December 2017.
• “Political-Territorial Organization and Distribution of Powers in the New Ecuadorian Constitution.” Book chapter co-authored with Dr. César Coronel Jones in The Citizens’ Constitution, edited by Diego Pérez Ordóñez. Editorial Taurus: Quito, April 2009.
• “Introduction to Competition Legislation.” Law Journal of the Guayaquil Bar Association, November 2004.

Academic Career

• Universidad de los Hemisferios, Quito; Professor of Public International Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science (2015 - Present).
• Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, College of Law; Lecturer in Public International Law, Master’s Program in International Arbitration and Litigation (2017).
• Universidad Casa Grande, Guayaquil; Visiting Professor of Public International Law, Faculty of Political Science and Administration (2017).
• Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil; Visiting Professor of Public International Law, Faculty of Law (2014).

Languages

• Spanish
• English
• French