Gonzalo Fernández

(The following information was supplied by the firm)

Partner of Carey and co-head of the firm’s Litigation Group. His practice is focused on the areas of litigation, national and international arbitration, corporate law, securities, and business law.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

• AFP ProVida, a MetLife affiliate and the largest pension plan manager in Chile, on a procedure concerning the annulment of the merger between AFP Provida and MetLife. All actions were dismissed in favor of our client.
• Republic of Chile on an interpretation proceeding pursued by Victor Pey and Fundación Presidente Allende before the same ICSID arbitrational panel which rendered an award favorable to Chile in October of 2016. In such award, the panel found that Chile did not owe anything to the claimants for the confiscation of a newspaper (El Clarín) which took place in the early seventies and which claimants allege Mr. Pey had owned. Claimants have been unsuccessfully seeking a compensation of USD799 million since the early nineties in several proceedings before ICSID.
• Fundación Isabel Aninat Echazarreta, the largest Chilean canonic law foundation, on complex claims filed by its founder’s heirs involving civil, commercial and canonic law. The political family of its founder filed several claims against the Archbishop of Santiago and the Fundación requesting a judge to declare the Fundación inexistent, null and void. A special judge member of the Appeal Court of Santiago dismissed entirely the actions filed by the plaintiff.
• Inmobiliaria Paz, one of the largest real estate and construction companies in Chile, on an arbitration procedure with Inversiones Traf regarding a promise agreement for the sale of one of the most attractive real estate lands in size and location in Santiago.
• Codelco on a defense of the USD1.7 million thermoelectric power project Energía Minera. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected two constitutional remedies filed by different local organizations against the construction of the thermoelectric power station Central Termoeléctrica Energía Minera, a subsidiary of Codelco.
• Nestlé on a proceeding before the Supreme Court concerning the registration of the Sahne Nuss brand, which corresponds to the flagship of all chocolates commercialized by Nestlé in Chile and the rest of Latin America. Though the product Sahne Nuss has been present for over 75 years in the Chilean market, since the beginning of the brand registration system in our country, such brand name has been denied registration time and time over. The brand was once again applied for in July 2006. In this case, Nestlé’s application was opposed by Empresas Carozzi, one of the foremost foods and groceries producer in Chile. The Supreme Court issued its decision by the end of 2012 fully dismissing the annulment remedy filed by Empresas Carozzi thus confirming the decision that granted the registration of the mentioned brand.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

• Recognized in Dispute Resolution: Litigation and Arbitration, Chambers Latin America.
• Recognized in Litigation and Arbitration, Latin Lawyer 250.
• Recognized in Arbitration and Mediation, International Arbitration and Litigation, Best Lawyers.
• Recognized in Litigation, Who’s Who Legal.
• Recognized in Dispute Resolution, The Legal 500.

ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS

• Member of the International Court of Arbitration, Paris (2018-2021).
• Professor of Civil Law, Universidad Católica de Chile (since 1997).
• Foreign associate, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York (1998-1999).
• Member of the panel of the Arbitration Center of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce.
• Member of the panel for dispute resolution at Mercosur (appointed by the Government of Chile).
• Representative of the firm in the Probono Foundation.
• Member of the Chilean Bar Association.

PUBLICATIONS

• Author of a chapter in “Highlighted Sentences 2018”, Libertad y Desarrollo (2019).
• Co-author of the Chilean chapter in the Chambers Global Practice Guide: Litigation, Chambers and Partners (2019).
• Author of the article “The arbitration agreement in Chilean law: its nature, requirements and effects”, published in Arbitration Treaty, The Arbitration Agreement, Grupo Editorial Ibañez: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Colombia and the Peruvian Institute of Arbitration.
• Author of the chapter “International Commercial Arbitration in Chile: Legal Framework and Jurisprudence”, published in International Commercial Arbitration in Latin America: Legal Framework and Jurisprudence, Wolters Kluwer group, Madrid, 1st edition (2009).
• Op-ed writer of El Mercurio Legal, Contracts and Torts series (permanent).

SEMINARS

• Lecturer in the 8th Americas Workshop organized by the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), Santiago (2012).
• Speaker in the seminar “New ICC 2012 Arbitration Rules”, organized by the International Arbitration Court of the ICC (2012).
• Lecturer at the Workshop on International Commercial Arbitration organized by the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London and the Arbitration Center of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (2011).

RELATED AREAS

• Arbitration
• Criminal Law
• Litigation
• Public Law

EDUCATION

• Law, Universidad Católica de Chile (admitted with the school’s highest entrance score in 1987).
• LL.M., Harvard University (Fulbright and Presidente de la República scholarships) (1997).
• Best Student Award (1987 – 1991).
• University Merit Award for being the best student of Universidad Católica de Chile (1989).
• Ranked highest in his class – Montenegro, Tocornal and Gutiérrez Awards.

ADMISSIONS

• Chile (1994).

LANGUAGES

• Spanish.
• English.