Alvaro Santos is a Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Rule of Law in the Americas (CAROLA) at Georgetown Law. He teaches and writes in the areas of international trade, economic development, transnational labor law, drug policy, and the future of NAFTA. In 2018, he served as Deputy Chief Negotiator of the USMCA Agreement for the newly elected government of Mexico.

Professor Santos is co-editor of the books World Trade and Investment Law Reimagined: A Progressive Agenda for an Inclusive Globalization (2019), Law and the New Developmental State: The Brazilian Experience in Latin America (2013), and The New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (2006). He is also the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Comparative Law, the Journal of International Economic Law, the Law and Development Review, and the Latin American Journal of International Trade Law.

He served as Co-Director of the Center for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS) in London from 2014-15. He regularly teaches at Georgetown’s Global Trade Academy and Harvard’s Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP). He has also taught at the University of Texas, Tufts University, Melbourne Law School, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), and the University of Turin. He received an LL.B. with high honors from Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México (UNAM) and an LLM and SJD from Harvard Law School.

 

Enrique Boone Barrera is the Program Director at CAROLA. He plays a crucial role in shaping the direction of the center, actively supporting the development and implementation of its strategic objectives. His primary area of research focuses on international investment law and public policy. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, exploring the consequences of investor-state arbitration on developing nations. This project saw him co-organizing three regional workshops, engaging public officials from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Besides his research contributions to academic journals, books, and blogs, Enrique has actively taken part in numerous conferences, workshops, and consultations related to international economic law. He has taught in the areas of international law, global governance, and public policy.

Enrique holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, an LL.M. from Queen’s University, and a D.C.L. from McGill University.

Research Team

Arye Beck is a Research Assistant at CAROLA, contributing to the project “Measuring and building institutional capacity for investor-state dispute settlement in Latin America and the Caribbean.” He is currently a J.D. student (3L) at Georgetown University Law Center and a part of the Georgetown Journal of International Law. Before law school, Arye received his B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from Stetson University, where he focused his studies on Latin America’s political economy and foreign relations. He has also served as a research intern for Transparency International’s Chilean Branch, researching municipal corruption and analyzing representatives’ programs to the Chilean Constitutional Convention.

 

Rebecca Contreras is a Research Assistant at CAROLA, where she contributes to the project “Measuring and building institutional capacity for investor-state dispute settlement in Latin America and the Caribbean.” She holds an M.A in Latin American Studies with a certificate in Gender, Peace and Security from Georgetown University. Until recently, Rebecca was a Program Associate at the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative. She designed judicial training and anti-money laundering programs in Mexico, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Rebecca also worked on the rule of law issues as a research assistant for the Stanford Governance Project and at the IACHR. Her academic coursework focuses on business and human rights and sustainable development in Latin America.

 

Florencia Wajnman is a Research Assistant at CAROLA, where she contributes to the project “Measuring and building institutional capacity for investor-state dispute settlement in Latin America and the Caribbean“. She is currently an LL.M student at Georgetown University Law Center pursuing a degree in International Legal Studies with a certificate in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution. She is one of the International Arbitration Scholars and the president of the Georgetown International Arbitration Society (GIAS). Before pursuing her master degree studies, Florencia was part of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) team that won the Concours d’Arbitrage International de Paris in 2018. She received her law degree from the UBA that same year and since then has worked exclusively in international arbitration at law firms in Argentina and France. She has experience both in commercial and investment treaty disputes under the ICC, ICSID, ICSID (AF) and UNCITRAL rules.

 

Paulina Rojas is a Research Assistant at CAROLA, where she is supporting the Center’s portfolio in investment law, primarily in Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Latin America. She is currently an LL.M Merit Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center pursuing a degree in International Business and Economic Law with a certificate in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution. She is currently on the Executive Board of Georgetown’s Student Society for Trade Investment and Development. Paulina received her law degree and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, where she focused on international trade, human rights, and development. Before starting her LL.M., she interned with the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Consular Mission in San Francisco, California.