Latham & Watkins LLP

Santiago Bejarano advises clients on a range of high-stakes international disputes around the world, under both civil law and common law regimes.

Santiago regularly represents domestic and multinational corporations and state-owned enterprises in a wide variety of industries and business sectors in their highest-stakes international disputes. Drawing on his dual qualification as an attorney in Colombia and New York and his in-depth understanding of Latin America’s legal systems and business practices, he has particular expertise advising clients on matters involving this region. He regularly conducts advocacy in Spanish-language or dual-language arbitrations.

Santiago brings over a decade of experience representing clients in international commercial and investment arbitrations held under all major institutional and ad-hoc rules, including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) , and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). He has conducted arbitrations seated in all major arbitral hubs, including New York, Washington D.C., London, The Hague, and Paris, among others.

He has handled disputes relating to the licensing of intellectual property, M&A transactions, distribution contracts in various sectors including pharmaceutical and luxury goods, and energy, oil, and gas development, distribution , and commercialization.

Santiago is consistently recognized by clients and peers as a leading arbitration practitioner, and is described in various publications by sources as “an increasingly prominent name for Latin America-related work,” “excellent,” “always up-to-speed on the advice,” “able to leverage years of common law training and practice to effectively advise on cross-border disputes,” and “one of the smartest lawyers” in the field. Santiago is Lecturer in Law at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he teaches International Arbitration, and is a frequent speaker at international arbitration conferences around the world.

In addition to his work on arbitration matters, Santiago has advised clients in connection with high-profile government investigations and inquiries, white collar matters, and complex, multi-jurisdictional internal investigations.

Santiago keeps an active pro bono practice, advising clients on immigration-related matters. He received the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award in 2015 for his work on immigration cases.