Professional Experience
In-house Director of Legal and Government Affairs for Latin America/Caribbean, Canada and Russia for Digital Equipment, Oracle and 3Com, and U.S. Legal Director for Módulo SA (1988 – 2001). Of counsel at Bastos-Tigre Advogados and Veirano Advogados/Rio de Janeiro/São Paulo) and Diaz Reus/Miami (2006 – 2013) specializing in international commercial arbitration and mediation. Independent Arbitrator and Mediator (2001 – present).
As counsel for Brazilian party in commercial arbitration, proposed and helped arrange the world’s first international commercial mediation by videoconference, resulting in successful resolution.
Arbitration Experience
Extensive experience as international commercial arbitrator, mediator and domain name panelist with parties from Brazil and other countries in Latin America/Caribbean, Western Europe, Asia, Russia, Canada and the U.S. Cases in Portuguese, Russian, and documents in French. Panel Member: Beijing Arbitration Commission (BIAC), Florence International Mediation Chamber (FIMC), Guangzhou Arbitration Commission (GZAC), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Netherlands Arbitration Institute Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), Vienna International Arbitration Centre (VIAC), WIPO Cultural Property Panel.
Largest commercial arbitration as sole arbitrator: USD $24million in aviation sector involving Latin America (2023).
Domain name decisions: WIPO (60+ UDRP, gTLD string confusion and .br ccTLD cases).
Professional and Other Activities
Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC.org), Director-General and Member, SVAMC Tech List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals. Member, SVAMC Board of Directors and immediate past Chair, SVAMC Membership Committee and of SVAMC’s Latin America/Caribbean Group.
International Mediation Institute (www.IMImediation.org), Certified Mediator for Brazil (IMI’s first Brazil-Certified Mediator) and the United States
Miami International Arbitration Society, Co-Founder
PRESENTATIONS ONLINE and IN-PERSON
Publications
Creator and General Editor of the book International Commercial Arbitration Practice: 21st Century Perspectives, in its 12th year of publication, 55+ chapters, with Horacio Grigera-Naón, Co-Editor, Lexis-Nexis/Matthew Bender books, New York, 2010 – 2022 with annual update releases and two-volume 2021 edition. Co-author, chapter 8 on ICA in Latin America/Caribbean and author, chapter 53 on Videoconferencing for ICA. Other chapters cover various aspects of international commercial arbitration, IP and technology, including one on “Arbitration Online – Domain Names and E-Commerce” disputes.
“The Potential of the Singapore Convention for Art and Cultural Property Disputes”, co-author with Prof. Attila M. Tanzi, Chair, International Law Faculty, University of Bologna – Italy, in the Journal of International Dispute Settlement (JIDS), Oxford University Press (December 2021), see https://academic.oup.com/jids/article/12/4/669/6432060?guestAccessKey=9a3981fc-2ca8-407a-968b-a13a03942529. Republished in The Art Law Review, 3d Edition, Court of Arbitration for Art/The Hague, January 2023.
“The Singapore Convention: A New Avenue for Corporate Counsel”, LAW.COM|Corporate Counsel, July 28, 2020, at
“Med-Arb, Arb-Med and Related Processes in Brazil and Beyond – Some Observations and Suggestions”, chapter in Temas de Mediação e Arbitragem, vol. 4, pp. 327-357 (LexEditora S/A, São Paulo, July 2020).
“Videoconferencing in International Arbitration and Mediation Proceedings”, https://SVAMC.org/articles May 2020.
“The Singapore Convention and its Benefits for Brazil”, www.IMImediation.org February 2020. Portuguese version published in December 2020 in the Revista Brasileira de ADR (Brazilian ADR Journal, Rio de Janeiro.
With Carla Araújo Demchuk and Nazareth Serpa, translation of Singapore Convention on Mediation into Portuguese (August 2019), available on International Mediation Institute website www.IMImediation.org
“Development of Business Mediation in Brazil” (co-author), chapter on Brazil for worldwide publication of the Academy of International Dispute Resolution and Professional Negotiation (Hong Kong), expected 2019.
“Corporate Culture and Business Mediation”, Kluwer Mediation Blog online, September 4, 2018, http://mediationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/2018/09/04/corporate-culture-business-mediation/
“Key Changes to the Brazilian Arbitration Law: A Foreign Practitioner’s Perspective”, chapter in the book Métodos Extrajudiciais de Resolução de Conflitos Empresariais (Extrajudicial Methods for Resolution of Business Disputes), IOB/São Paulo, October 2017.
“The Brazilian Mediation Wave – Will it Rise?”, Kluwer Mediation Blog online, October 21, 2016, at http://kluwermediationblog.com/2016/10/21/the-brazilian-mediation-wave-will-it-rise/
“Proposed UNCITRAL [Singapore] Convention on Mediated Settlements of International Commercial Disputes”, co-authored with IMI Chair Deborah Masucci, published in September 2016 at IBA Mediation Committee internal publications link http://www.ibanet.org/LPD/Dispute_Resolution_Section/Mediation/Publications.aspx
“Brazil’s New Mediation Law and the Impact on International Business Disputes”, co-authored with Brazilian lawyer and mediator Alexandre Simões, AAA Dispute Resolution Journal, Vol. 70, no. 4 (December 2015), pp. 13 – 19.
“The Law, Exposed”, a translation and brief commentary on the new Brazilian Mediation Law, co-authored with Brazilian lawyer and mediator Alexandre Simões, part of Building a Mediation Structure in Brazil in the International ADR section of CPR’s Alternatives journal, Vol. 33, No. 11, December 2015, pp. 163 – 170.
“Arbitration and Mediation of Brazilian M & A Disputes”, Beijing Arbitration Commission column in the Disputes Digest section of the China Business Law Journal, Beijing, Vol. 6, issue 8, September 2015.
“Brazil: Changes Enacted to Arbitration Law” at website www.ChinaGoAbroad.com (for Chinese entities interested in markets abroad), May 2015. Article published in English and Chinese.
“Multi-dimensional Mediation”, chapter in the book Contemporary Tendencies in Mediation, Humberto Dalla and Juliana Loss de Andrade, Co-Editors, Editorial Dykinson, Madrid, 2015.
Academic Qualifications
B.A., Yale, Russian Studies major
M.A. with Distinction, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC and Bologna, Italy. International Relations (International Economics, European/Russian Studies
J.D., University of Maine, Law
Taught ADR courses in Brazil (PUC-Minas, FDV online), Russia (MFUA) and the U.S. (FIU/Miami)