International Arbitration / Corporate / M&A

Partner

José has been a partner at Bredin Prat since 2003. He is part of both the corporate and the international arbitration teams.

His corporate practice spans over twenty years of cross border transactional work involving mergers and acquisitions and other business combination/divestment agreements, in a variety of sectors, including a number of lengthy and delicate distressed/workout deals.

Given his strong experience in corporate matters, José has a particular expertise in post-M&A and shareholders’ disputes.

His arbitration practice involves acting as counsel in a number of institutional and ad hoc international arbitration proceedings, advising and representing clients in commercial and investment disputes. Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague since 2019, and Ecuador’s (alternate) member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration during the 2012-2015 period, José has been appointed as arbitrator in a number of proceedings (institutional and ad-hoc) in which he has sat as chairman, sole or co-arbitrator.

Fluent in Spanish, English, French and German, José’s work as counsel and arbitrator spans a broad range of industries including distribution, telecommunications, banking and finance, construction, infrastructure, public works, public transport, energy, natural resources and mining.

José lectures on international business law at the University of Paris 2 – Panthéon-Assas, on cross-border M&A transactions at the University of Paris 5 – Paris-Descartes, and on international commercial arbitration at the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi University. He regularly speaks at international arbitration and M&A conferences.

Admitted to the Paris Bar (1998) and the Quito Bar (1996)

Born in Ecuador, José Maria Pérez is a graduate of Williams College (Massachusetts) (BA, 1984), the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas (Maîtrise in French and German Business Law), the University of Paris 10 Nanterre (DEA in Private Law), the Catholic University of Ecuador (Doctor en Jurisprudencia) and the Washington College of Law (LL.M.).