Mr. Barrera is an attorney from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and specializes in Private Law. He has been director of the Department of Private Law of the School of Law at Universidad Javeriana and a professor of Roman Law, Obligations, as well as numerous post-graduate level subjects at this school for over 30 years.

He has lectured on Roman Law in the School of Law at Universidad de la Sabana, Obligations in the School of Jurisprudence at Universidad del Rosario, and Corporations in the School of Law at Universidad de los Andes.

A former member of the Commission to Reform the Commercial Code, he was appointed Colombian delegate to the United Nations Commission for the Unification of Commercial Law (UNCITRAL).

He has published several works on the subjects of his specialization; particularly noteworthy are “Los Seguros y el Derecho Civil” (Insurance and Civil Law), “Las Obligaciones en el Derecho Moderno” (Obligations in Modern Law) (Two Volumes) and “ El daño justificado” (Justified Damage).

He worked in the legal department of the ASOCIACION NACIONAL DE INDUSTRIALES [National Association of Industrialists] (ANDI) and subsequently at the CAJA DE CREDITO AGRARIO, INDUSTRIAL Y MINERO. He was legal manager for the National Railways and Manager of the Círculo de Obreros Foundation.

Mr. Barrera has practiced professionally in the area of private law for over twenty years. His main focus has been in Civil, Banking, and Commercial Law, consulting for the most important insurance companies and banking institutions in the country. His field of activity has been mainly in Arbitration Courts, as arbitrator and as counsel to one of the parties, in addition to a number of cases currently in progress before the ordinary justice system,

E-mail: cdbarrera@esguerrabarrera.com

Mr. Arriaga is a graduate from Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario and was the first Director of the Labor Department of the pro bono legal counseling office of this school. He has also been a professor of Labor Relations Law and Collective Labor Law as well as a graduate level Professor of Procedural Law.

He has been Secretary of the Fourth District Prosecutor’s Office of the Council of State, Regional Labor Director for Cundinamarca and Bogotá, and Magistrate of the Labor Division of the Superior Court of Bogotá.

Mr. Arriaga has been practicing and handling labor proceedings since 1970 and has over 35 years experience as an Expert and Litigator in Appeals, especially in the labor field.

He holds the position of Associate Judge of the Labor Chamber of the Superior Court of Bogotá and is on the list of arbitrators submitted by the Supreme Court of Justice to the Ministry of Social Protection.

He has served as a business consultant for numerous collective bargaining negotiations and has been a member of Arbitration Courts summoned to resolve collective labor conflicts

E-mail: harriaga@esguerrabarrera.com

Mr. Miranda is a graduate from the Universidad Javeriana School of Law. He specialized in Socioeconomic Sciences at the same University, in Banking Law at Universidad de los Andes and obtained his Masters Degree in Law (LL.M) from Cornell University, where he pursued his studies under a Fulbright Scholarship.

From 1987 to 1988 he worked as an Attorney at the Latin American Caribbean Division of Bank of America, based in Miami and Los Angeles.
Mr. Miranda started his private practice in Colombia in 1989, mainly in the areas of Competition Law and Mergers & Acquisitions. He has acted as advisor and represented numerous clients in some of the most important cases related to anti-trust legislation, competitive practices, mergers, unfair competition, and consumer protection.

He has advised public and private entities in Colombia and abroad on telecommunications issues and has taken part in legal and arbitration proceedings in business and corporate affairs.

Mr. Miranda has held the position of Director of the Department of Law and Economics at the Universidad Javeriana School of Law since 2003. He is a Founding Member and Director of the Center for Studies on Competition Law - CEDEC, at Universidad Javeriana. He has been a Professor on Competition Law at Javeriana, Externado de Colombia and other universities since 1990 and has been a guest lecturer in Competition Law issues in Colombia and abroad.

He is the author of the book “Compilation of laws and regulations on Competition Law in Colombia” and has written numerous academic articles on Competition Law issues in specialized magazines. He is the Editor of the Competition Law Magazine at CEDEC.

E-mail: amiranda@esguerrabarrera.com

Attorney graduated from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, with a Masters Degree in Law (LL.M.) from Konstanz University (Germany).

Since 1987 he has been dedicated to professional practice, mainly in consulting and litigation (arbitration and judicial proceedings) in matters related to public contracts, State domestic and international responsibility and Human Rights Law.

He represented the Colombian Government in the Caballero Delgado case (reparation phase), Las Palmeras case, and the Ituango Massacres case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

From 1997 to 2000 he was Minister Counselor to the Colombian Embassy to the United States and General Director for Special Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bogotá. During 1995 and 1996 he was legal advisor in the offices of the Minister of National Defense and the First Delegate Procurator to the Council of State.

He has been law professor in administrative procedural law and public contracts at undergraduate and post-graduate programs at the Universidad Javeriana, and professor for international State responsibility at Universidad de los Andes. He was also Editor of the Public Law Magazine at Universidad de los Andes and Director for the Specialization in Administrative Law at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

E-mail: fpiquero@esguerrabarrera.com

Mr. Jaramillo received his Law Degree from Universidad Javeriana and specialized in Business Law at Universidad Externado de Colombia, and in Administrative Law at Universidad Javeriana.

In his practice he has specialized in consulting in the areas of business law and administrative contracts. He has also been engaged in litigation, mainly related to unfair competition, practices that restrict competition, business mergers, commercial issues and government contracts under State jurisdiction, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, and arbitration.

He was a legal analyst for the preparation of the publication “General Contracting Statute for Public Administration,” “Code of Administrative Procedure,” and the “Contract Yearbooks” for the years 1995 and 1996 (Derecho Vigente Ltda).

E-mail: ajaramillo@esguerrabarrera.com

Mr. Flórez received his law degree from Universidad Javeriana, specialized in insurance law at the same university, and obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from Cornell University in the United States.

Mr. Flórez was admitted to practice in the State of New York in 2002 and in the Republic of Colombia in 1996, and is a member of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA).

Mr. Flórez was an associate of the law firm Gamba, Barrera, Arriaga & Asociados from 1996 to 1998, Legal Director of the Bogota Stock Exchange from 1999 to 2000, Managing Director of Capital Markets and Issuers of the Colombian Stock Exchange from 2001 to 2002, Alternate Superintendent for Issuers at the Superintendence of Securities from 2002 to 2004, General Director of Financial Regulation at the Colombian Ministry of Finance from 2004 to 2005 and CEO of the Financial Institutions Guarantee Fund – Fogafin (FDCI equivalent) from 2005 to 2007.

Mr. Flórez was the Colombian negotiator of the Chapter on Financial Services of the U.S.- Andean Free Trade Agreement. In addition, he headed the group that drafted the new Colombian Securities Law and submitted the bill to Congress for its approval. He was also part of the group that worked on the merger of the Superintendence of Banks (Superintendencia Bancaria) and the Superintendence of Securities (Superintendencia de Valores), that led to the creation of the new Financial Superintendence (Superintendencia Financiera).

As CEO of Fogafin Mr. Flórez led the closing of the privatization of Granahorrar, structured the sale of Megabanco and Acerías Paz del Rio, privatized Bancafé and structured and sold US$ 1 billion face value of non-performing-loans (NPL’s) of CISA. These transactions generated more than US$ 2.5 billion in income for the Colombian government.

Andrés Flórez is a professor of Contracts at the Universidad Javeriana School of Law and of Securities and Financial Regulation at the Universidad de los Andes School of Law.

E-mail: aflorez@esguerrabarrera.com