Particularly active in the energy, aquaculture, mining and industrial sectors, Echeverría Ilharreborde Scagliotti’s ‘environmental law practice stands out from other teams’. On the contentious front, the practice’s recent mandates include sanctioning proceedings before the Environmental Superintendence, and an administrative claim involving an environmental license. The seven-strong department is co-led by two of the firm’s name-partners: the ’very prepared, fast, intelligent and competent’ Jose Domingo Ilharreborde focuses on the environmental assessment of energy and industrial projects, his caseload including high-stakes environmental and administrative litigation; and environmental and regulatory law specialist José Pedro Scagliotti, who routinely acts in administrative proceedings and disputes involving major energy and industrial companies. Experienced senior associate Felipe Infante specialises in environmental law, mining, energy and infrastructure.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Echeverría Ilharreborde Scagliotti's environmental law practice stands out from other teams in this area. Despite being young lawyers, they have a lot of experience in the development and environmental evaluation of projects; and they fully understand how the Administration operates, which greatly facilitates processes before the authorities.'
  • 'High levels of knowledge of environmental law.'
  • 'Clear and solid in its analysis and proposals - great commitment to the client.’
  • 'Full commitment to clients' challenges and problems as clients.'
  • 'Very good litigants, which means that they have a comprehensive vision of each matter in which they participate. They are also very flexible in their billing systems, and they adapt very well to the needs of clients. They are therefore able to propose different charging structures for different matters depending on clients' requirements. Another strength of this practice is that they have a very good understanding of the technical issues of the energy industry and clients' activities.'
  • 'Good contact networks with consultants and different authorities; and the partners are constantly involved in each of the matters on which they advise. They are also experts in environmental and regulatory matters, and they know the energy industry very well, which is why they always manage to propose practical solutions.'
  • 'José Domingo Ilharreborde is very prepared, fast, intelligent and competent.'
  • 'Both partner José Domingo Ilharreborde and senior associate Felipe Infante are very sharp lawyers, who are capable of identifying problems quickly and proposing answers. They also have a high degree of commitment to clients and are always available to meet clients' requirements.’

Key clients

  • Anglo American
  • SQM (Soquimich)
  • Aqua Chile
  • Salmones Aysén
  • Embotelladora Andina
  • Re-Ciclar
  • Torretagle
  • SOLEK Group
  • Fotovatio Renewable Ventures
  • Sociedad Industrial y Minera Los Esteros (Greenrec Lepanto)
  • Cintazul
  • Agrícola San León

Work highlights

  • Advised Anglo American on the environmental assessment of a $3bn project for the Los Bronces mine.
  • Defended Salmones Aysén against a sanctioning procedure before the Environmental Superintendence, further to certain alleged breaches to environmental authorisations (caused by a salmon escape in 2019).
  • Advised Re-Ciclar (a joint venture between Coca-Cola Andina and Embonor) on the design of its environmental assessment strategy.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

José Domingo Ilharreborde, José Pedro Scagliotti