Region Area

Lawyers

Claudia Benavides

Claudia Benavides

Work Department

Dispute Resolution

Position

Partner

Career

Claudia is a partner at Baker McKenzie and since 2019, she is the Global Chair of the firm's worldwide Dispute Resolution practice group. She has led the litigation and arbitration practice in Colombia since 2010, and in 2018 she went on to lead the practice in Latin America, and was later promoted to the global role. Claudia is a highly regarded expert in international arbitration, domestic arbitration and transnational litigation. She has more than 25 years of extensive experience representing clients in complex litigation and arbitration related to construction and infrastructure projects in various sectors, disputes arising from mergers and acquisitions in a variety of industries, disputes related to distribution and brokerage agreements, and in general, disputes arising from contractual breaches.

Claudia has significant experience in complex litigation and arbitration involving construction and infrastructure projects, multi-million dollar share purchase agreements, mergers and acquisitions disputes, energy sector disputes, disputes relating to commercial agency, supply, distribution and other intermediation contracts, insurance contracts, transportation, unfair competition, insolvency and contractual breaches of various kinds.

Claudia has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers & Partners (Band 1) and The Legal 500 (Leading Lawyer & Hall of Fame) as a leading expert in dispute resolution. The prestigious publication Who's Who Legal: Arbitration recognizes Claudia as a thought leader in this area, Benchmark Litigation highlighted her in the list 'Top 25 Latam Women in Litigation', Woman in Business Law Awards Americas recognized her as 'Litigator of the Year', and in 2023 Forbes recognized her as one of the 100 most powerful women in Colombia. The Legal 500 recently awarded Claudia as Lawyer of the Year 2024 in Colombia, selecting her among highly recognized lawyers practicing in different areas of law. Claudia has been involved in academia, is regularly invited as a panelist in important national and international congresses and is the author of several articles and book chapters related to her practice.

Rankings:

Band 1, Individual Dispute Resolution Ranking, Chambers & Partners for several consecutive years. Hall of Fame and Leading Lawyer in Litigation, The Legal 500 for several consecutive years. Hall of Fame and Leading Lawyer in Arbitration, The Legal 500 for several consecutive years. Thought Leader, Who's Who Legal: Arbitration for several consecutive years. Arbitration Powerlist Latin America, The Legal 500 for several consecutive years. Nominated by Chambers & Partners in Women in Law Awards: Lawyer of the Year in Colombia, 2018. Lawyer of the Year in Gender Diversity 2019 for Colombia, Chambers & Partners D&I. Litigator of the Year in 2021, Woman in Business Law Awards Americas. Lawyer of the Year in Arbitration in Colombia in 2021, Benchmark Litigation America. Acritas Stellar Performance Lawyers, 2021, Acritas Star Directory. Included in the list of the 100 Powerful Women in Colombia in 2023, Forbes Magazine. Lawyer of the Year in Colombia in 2024, The Legal 500.

Languages

Spanish - English

Memberships

Global Chair of Baker McKenzie's Dispute Resolution Group worldwide (2019-present). Chair of the ICC Colombia Arbitration and ADR Commission (2018-2019). Member of the Global Steering Committee of Baker McKenzie's International Arbitration practice (2015-2018). Representative of the Latin American Regional Coordinating Committee for the Young Arbitrators Forum of the International Chamber of Commerce - ICC YAF (2014-2017). Member of the International Arbitration Group of Latin America of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce). Member of the Arbitration and ADR Commission of ICC Colombia. Member of ALARB - Latin American Arbitration Association. Member of the Colombian Arbitration Committee. Member of the Colombian sub-committee for The Pledge - Equal Representation in Arbitration. Member of the Global Diversity and Inclusion Committee of Baker McKenzie.

Education

London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom (LLM with merits) (2001) Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (Economist) (1999) Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (Lawyer) (1997)

Mentions