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Lawyers

Pablo Bentes

Pablo Bentes

Baker McKenzie, Switzerland

Position

Pablo M. Bentes is a partner in Baker McKenzie Geneva, where he heads the global WTO disputes practice of the Firm. Pablo focuses on representing WTO Members before the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and assists private clients and trade associations on how to leverage WTO disciplines to resolve trade disputes. Pablo is one of very few practitioners in the world to have successfully represented WTO Members in all stages in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, serving as lead counsel in oral pleadings before WTO panels and the Appellate Body.

Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Pablo was managing director at a leading law firm in Washington DC and a Legal Officer in the Appellate Body Secretariat of the WTO. While working at the Appellate Body Secretariat, Pablo advised on some of the largest and most complex appeals giving rise to the leading case law in areas such as import restrictions, subsidies, trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, among others.

Pablo was featured as "Next Generation Lawyer – Dispute Resolution: International Trade" in Legal 500 US for three years in a row. Law360 has repeatedly named him a "Rising Star." He is a welcomed speaker at international podiums and publishes regularly in professional journals and international media.

Pablo advises sovereign states and private clients in every stage of complex WTO disputes dealing with the inter-section between economic and non-economic objectives. He frequently appears on behalf of WTO members in oral pleadings before WTO panels and the Appellate Body.

Languages

English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish

Memberships

WTO Indicative List of Panelists (Brazil) Member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) Member of the Editorial Board of “Revista de Derecho Económico Internacional”, ITAM, Mexico Vice President of the ABCI Institute, Washington, DC Chapter-Chair of the New York State Bar Association in Geneva.

Education

University of Miami (LLM International Law) (2003) University of Sao Paulo (MBA Finance and Risk Management) (2001) Harvard Law School (Program of Instruction for Lawyers, Negotiation Workshop) (2001) University of Sao Paulo (JD) (1999)

Mentions