Law Practitioner & Arbitrator (Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration)

Areas: Foreign investment, investment law (national and international), joint ventures, licensing, corporate and commercial (including various areas such as real estate and construction). 1966 to present – law firms:

• Santamarina y Steta, S.C. (1966-70)
• Martinez, Laffan y Comella, S.C. (1970-72)
• Bufete Sepúlveda, S.C. (Baker & Mc.Kenzie) (1973-74)
• Gómez-Palacio y Asociados, S.C. (1974-91)
• Of Counsel of Jauregui, Navarrete, Nader, S.C. (correspondent of Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, 1991 to 2006)
• Gomez-Palacio y Asociados, S.C. (2006-2011)
• Independent practice (2011 to date).

International Expert Counsel United Nations, Center of Transnational Corporations (currently UNCTAD Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development), Senior Consultant, on missions for the purpose of advising governments of developing countries on structuring joint ventures, preparing direct foreign investment and privatization related legislation as well as providing training workshops. Samples:

Cuba

• Critical analysis of Decree 50 (on foreign investment).
• Conferences with The Council of Ministers on comparative legislation. 1983

Tanzania

• Lectures at the UNCTC/ESAM/Negotiations of Engineering Contracts on: joint ventures and transfer pricing. 1989

Nicaragua

• Critical analysis of Foreign Investment Law. 1990

Dominican Republic

• Assistance on Joint Venture Agreement between domestic company and Japanese transnational, regarding cultivation an industrialization of sea island cotton. 1990

Romania

• Workshop on Foreign Investment and Privatization (investment, trade, TNC's participation, etc.). 1991

Albania

• Preparation of Foreign Investment Law.
• Advisor on Law on the Sanctioning and Protection of Private Property, Free Initiative, Independent Private Activities and Privatization. 1991

Bulgaria

• Advising government on its privatization program. 1991

Angola

• Preparation and agenda on proposed mission to Mexico. 1991

Mozambique

• Workshop on Foreign Investment and Privatization (alternative forms of TNC's participation, transfer pricing, etc.). 1992

North Korea

• Preparing Free Economic Trade Zone Law, Foreign Exchange Administration Law and advising on foreign individual taxes and foreign business entities. 1992

Moldova

• Critical analysis of Foreign Investment Law. 1993

Regulatory Consultant on Mexican Related Matters

• General Regulation and General Resolutions issued by the National Foreign Investment Commission
• External Counsel for the Mexican Federal Government on matters of commercial and private international law, including Mexico's positions at UNCITRAL and CIDIP.
• Regulation for the National Institute for the Deposit of Publicly Traded Securities (INDEVAL)
• Law to Promote Micro-industry
• Commerce Department U.S.A (NAFTA)
• Judicial Reform

Member of:

• Board of External Counselors of Mexico´s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on commercial and private international law.
• Arbitration Commission of ICC International Court of Arbitration (Mexico).
• The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (currently Vicepresident).
• Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.
• Committee on International Law on Foreign Investments of the International Law Association.
• Group of experts before the Interamerican Conference of International Private Law (CIDIP VII).
• Transnational Juris Publications, Inc (Irvington-on-Hudson, New York), Doing Business in Mexico.
• The Board of Visitors of the University of Pepperdine, College of Law (California, 1994-1997).
• The Board of Advisors of UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal (past).
• International PEN.

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Bachelor of Law 1966

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Master of Laws 1973

Courses and seminars for arbitrators before ICC International Court of Arbitration, American Arbitration Association, Camara Nacional de Comercio de la Ciudad de Mexico, LCIA, IBA and others. 1994-2005

Law Professor

Founding Professor, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM), Acatlan Campus, Graduate Program, Specialty on Legal and Economic Structure of Foreign Investment, teaching foreign investment and international legal transactions. (1997-1982).

Visiting Law Professor for summer courses in Mexico for the University of San Diego, University of Houston and University of California (Davis) in Mexico City and Guadalajara, on regulations on foreign investment in Mexico. (1975 -1994)

Law Professor at various Mexican universities (Universidad Panamericana,Universidad de Baja California Norte and others) on joint ventures, exchange controls, licensing, transfer of technology and international legal transactions.

Universidad Iberoamericana teaching International Commercial Arbitration and International Law on Foreign Investment (Master of Laws Program on International Business Law and Law School Graduate Program). (1976-2005)

Visiting Law Professor Abroad

• University of California, Davis, teaching Foreign Investment Legislation in Mexico, and Latin American Law. (1976)
• University of Florida at Gainesville, Fla., teaching Western European and Latin America Legal Systems, Comparative Law and International Joint Ventures. (1979, 1986, 1987 and 1991)
• University of Hong Kong, teaching International Commercial Transactions. (1989)
• Peking University, lecturing on Foreign Investment in Latin America and Foreign Investment Remittance of Profits Abroad. (1989)
• University of New Mexico, teaching Western European and Latin America Legal Systems, Comparative Law and International Joint Ventures. (1995)

Lecturer/Speaker

On matters of foreign investments, transfer of technology, exchange controls regulations, international investment law, joint ventures, international transactions and trade, foreign debt, incentives, control, General Resolutions of Mexico's Foreign Investment Commission, foreign investment and mexicanization trusts, Comparative Constitutional Law (Mexico and USA), privatization, NAFTA, Mexico's social, economic and political scenarios, the practice of international law, civil/common law systems, commercial agreements, legal education in USA and Latinamerica, judicial reform, etc. at various universities and institutions in Mexico and abroad, such as:

• International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR- AAA).
• Instituto de Investigaciones Economicas of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México
• Instituto de Investigaciones Juridicas, of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México
• California Western Law School
• Universidad Iberoamericana
• Instituto Panamericano de Alta Direccion de Empresa
• Committee on Foreign Relations, Tampa, Fla., USA
• Instituto Matías Romero (Diplomacy School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Barra Mexicana, Colegio de Abogados, A.C.
• Pepperdine University
• Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
• Universidad de Sonora
• United States-Mexico Law Institute, Inc. (Santa Fe, USA) and others

Sole authorship

Derecho de los Negocios Internacionales (International Business Law), Editorial Porrua, Mexico, 2006.

Procesos Electorales (Election Process, contribution for democracy), Oxford University Press, México, 2000.

Ley de Inversiones Extranjeras y su Reglamento Comentados (Comments to the Foreign Investment Law and its Regulation), Editorial Themis, S.A., México, 1989.

Inversión Extranjera Directa (Direct Foreign Investment), Editorial Porrúa, S.A., México, 1985.

Análisis de la Ley de Inversión Extranjera en México (Analysis of the Mexican Law on Foreign Investment), Impresora Azteca, México, 1974.

Joint publications

Daño Moral y Responsabilidad Civil Transnacional, Editorial Porrúa, S.A., México, 2012.

The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law, joint publication of several members of the International Law Association Committee on International Law on Foreign Investment. Oxford University Press, United Kingdom, 2008.

Doing Business in Mexico, Transnational Juris Publications, Inc., New York, 1993.

Reformas Constitucionales de la Renovación Nacional (Constitutional Amendments of the National Renovation), Editorial Porrúa, S.A., México, 1987.

Política, Economía y Derecho de la Inversión Extranjera (Foreign Investment, Policy, Economy and Law), UNAM, México, 1984.

Most recent articles

Author of Latin America Investment & Arbitration Law Bi-Monthly (2006-09), published by Transnational Dispute Management, University of Dundee.

International Commercial Arbitration: Two Cultures In A State Of Courtship And Potential Marriage Of Convenience, American Review of International Arbitration, University of Colombia, New York, Vol. 20, No.2.

Arbitrators' Bias in Countries with Nil or Reduced Arbitration Tradition, The Fordham Papers 2009, Forham University, New York, 2010.

Montos de Indemnizaciones en Arbitrajes Inversionista v. Estado: De Qué Color Pinta el Verde. La Barra, Barra Mexicana, Colegio de Abogados, A.C., México.

Law Review Articles

On matters related with foreign investment, joint ventures, exchange controls legislation in Mexico, justice and legal education, published by:

• California Western International Law Journal
• El Foro (Mexican Bar publication)
• The University of Miami, Inter-American Law Review
• Jurídica (Universidad Iberoamericana)
• Houston Journal of International Law
• Cuadernos de Posgrado (UNAM)
• Revista del Instituto de la Judicatura Federal (Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice publication)

Contributing Author

Transnational Dispute Management Newsletter & Journal.

Editorials

In various Mexican national newspapers and magazines (1990-2004).

Founding and active member of:

• Fundación Mexicana de Reintegración Social -REINTEGRA- (purpose: provide in Mexico City legal aid, assistance, and work to prisioners with readaptive capacity).
• Instituto Mexicano Para la Justicia, A.C. -IMEJ- (President 2001-2004, purpose: administration of justice and public security).
• Causa Ciudadana (purpose: promotion of democracy in Mexico).

Mario Vargas Llosa International Novel Award for 1997 University of Murcia, Spain. (1997)

Member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Pepperdine, Los Angeles, California. (1994-1997)

Jessup Judge for the Southeastern Regional Round of the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. (1987)

Spanish
English