Profile

General Professional Practice

• Partner of the law firm of Figueroa & Valenzuela, of Santiago, Chile, established in 1958 and with a broad civil, commercial, trade and international law practice.

Academic Experience

• Law degree from the University of Chile.
• Master in Comparative Law, George Washington University.
• Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs of Harvard University, 1985 1986.
• Professor of international law at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Graduate School of the Faculty of Law and the Instituto de Estudios Internacionales of the University of Chile.
• Adjunct Professor of international law and international economic relations at the School of International Service of American University, from 1987 through 1993.
• Member of the Faculty of the International Law Institute, of Washington, D.C., from 1990 through 1993.
• Adjunct professor of international relations at the Latin American Studies Program of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 1978-1980.
• Member on two occasions, 1978-1980 and 1990-1993, of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, of Washington, D.C.
• Associate Member of the American Bar Association.

Experience in International Economic Development, Trade and Finance

• Senior Legal Counsel of the Inter-American Development Bank, in Washington, D.C. from 1970 through 1993 In this capacity, among other responsibilities, supervised the Bank's operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Present member of the Roster of Investigators of the Independent Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank, in Washington, D.C.
• Appointed by the government of Chile to the Roster of Experts of the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• On December 2003, appointed by the Director General of the WTO, member of the arbitration panel that resolved the complaint raised by Australia, Brazil and Thailand against the European Union's sugar subsidies. Final Panel Report issued on 8 September 2004 (WT/DS265/R). On April 28, 2005, the Panel's decision was confirmed by the WTO Appellate Body.
• On October 2002, appointed member of an Investigating Panel of a complaint against the Inter-American Development Bank in connection with a thermoelectric project in Mexico. Panel Report issued on February 2003.
• On February, 2002, appointed by the Director General of the WTO, member of an arbitration panel that resolved a complaint raised by Canada against the United States for the imposition of countervailing duties to the imports of softwood lumber. Panel Report issued on September 27, 2002. None of the parties appealed and on November 1st, 2002, both the US and Canada accepted the Report as final.
• Appointed by the government of Chile, to the Panels of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes of the World Bank (ICSID). Member of the ICSID Ad-Hoc Committee on the annulment proceeding brought by Petroecuador against an arbitral award which favored Repsol YPF Ecuador, S.A.
• Arbitrator of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). In 1996, sole arbitrator of a commercial dispute between a US and a European firm. In 1999, one of three arbitrators of a commercial dispute between a Mexican and a US firm and, on 2003, member of a similar arbitration panel which resolved a commercial dispute between a Dominican and a European firm.Member of the Roster of Arbitrators of the London Court of International Arbitration.
• Member of "The Chartered Institute of Arbitrator's", London.
• Member of the roster of international arbitrators of the Conciliation and Arbitration Center of the Chilean American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham). Sole arbitrator of a commercial dispute between a Chilean and a US. firm awarded in 2004.
• Participant in the Symposium on International Arbitration of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association, in San Francisco, September 12, 2003 and in the seminar on International Commercial Arbitration of the Institute of International Commercial Law, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, October 13-16, 2003.
• Member of the Board of Executive Directors of the Chilean American Chamber of Commerce ("AMCHAM") and President of its Ethics Committee (1999 2002).
• President of the Committee on Foreign Investment of the Inter-American Bar Association and past president of the Natural Resources and Environmental Law of that same Association (2000 2004).
• Consultant (1990 1996) of the Geneva Office of the United Nations Institute for Training and Development (UNITAR) on international financing and foreign debt negotiations for public officials of African and Asian countries.
• Member of the Ad-Hoc group of experts in finance and transfer of technology established in 1994 by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development for the implementation of Agenda 21.
• Member of the Working Group convened in Bahamas, in 1994, by the government of Sweden to examine the financing mechanism of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
• Represented the Inter-American Development Bank before the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and the Rio de Janeiro Summit of 1992.
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Chilean Chapter of Transparency International.

Languages: Spanish, English and French