Biography: Arbitration

Gabriela Alvarez-Avila has built a fast-growing reputation as a partner in the international arbitration group at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. Ms Alvarez-Avila's practice focuses on arbitration, international law and investment law. She has experience in transactions involving a wide range of sectors, including infrastructure projects, electricity, telecommunications, and oil and gas. She has acted as counsel for foreign states in investor-state arbitrations conducted under the Arbitration Rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). She also has acted as sole arbitrator in an arbitration conducted under the Arbitration Rules of the Arbitration Center of Mexico (CAM).

Before joining Curtis, Ms Alvarez-Avila was a counsel with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, DC, where she administered arbitrations as secretary of tribunals, hearing cases in English, Spanish and French. The arbitration proceedings in which she was a participant included claims based on bilateral investment treaties, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, national investment laws and international contracts.

Ms Alvarez-Avila has been cited for her work in international arbitration by Chambers Latin America.

Ms Alvarez-Avila earned a Bachelor's degree in law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Master's degree in law with a specialisation in international law from the University of Geneva. She is a candidate for a PhD in international relations with a specialisation in international law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva.