Our team is conformed by experts in several law practice areas, given our experience in top law firms and consultants, both in Chile and abroad. We took the best part of each one of our past experiences and imprinted our own seal on it to provide high level counseling at the service of our clients.
Cristian Gamboa is a partner and co-head at GFSU`s Tax Group. His practice area focuses mainly on tax litigation, administrative tax disputes and tax advisory service, being in charge of claims before the tax authorities and ordinary courts.
From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Gamboa worked as Senior Manager of the Tax Litigation team at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), being the head of the team awarded the litigation team of the year by the prestigious journal "International Tax Review". Previously, from 2003 to 2006, he worked as an associate for Carey y Cía., in its litigation team.
Mr. Gamboa is currently a Litigation Professor at the Universidad Diego Portales Law School. He was Professor of New Tax Justice in 2010, and also for the Master´s Degree on Litigation and New Proceedings" in 2011, both at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Additionally, he was Professor of "Due Process and the New Tax Justice" at Gabriela Mistral University and during 2008 and 2009 he was Professor of "Tax Seminar", a special program for judges, Court´s clerks and other public employees.
Mr. Gamboa studied law at Universidad de Chile Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1996. He is a member of the Chilean Bar Association.
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Rodolfo Fuenzalida leads GFSU's civil litigation practice. His practice focuses on the areas of litigation and arbitration, both nationally and internationally, civil, commercial, public and regulatory law, construction and engineering matters.
In addition, Mr. Fuenzalida has significant experience in complex negotiation processes looking to prevent disputes between parties.
Currently, Mr. Fuenzalida gives legal advice to companies in the cement, construction, mining, banks, among other in the private arena, as well as public entities in dispute resolutions and negotiations.
Mr. Fuenzalida also gives legal advice to local arbitrators to resolve the cases which are being known by them.
Also, Mr. Fuenzalida has been recognised by Chambers and Partners, ranking in which clients have highlighted his extreme rigorosity and detail handling in every case under his control. In the same line, Chambers and Partners indicated that “He is always available, has full knowledge of the matter at hand and is extremely rigorous in his briefs, addressing every detail in the facts of the dispute."
From 2003 to 2012 he was Senior Associate of the Arbitration and Civil Team in Carey y Cía., where he represented and defended the interests of prestigious national and international companies. Between 2009 and 2010 Mr. Fuenzalida worked as a foreign associate at Arnold & Porter´s international arbitration practice in Washington DC, USA.
Mr. Fuenzalida studied law at Universidad Diego Portales and was admitted to the Bar in 2003. In 2007 he won the Full Scholarship LL.M. University of Wisconsin, granted by that University. He holds a Master´s Degree in Law (LL.M.) from Wisconsin University, USA (2008-2009).
Mr. Fuenzalida is Professor of Arbitration and Litigation as well as of Techniques of Litigation at Universidad Diego Portales School of Law, being honored as the best professor in 2011 at the above-mentioned School. He was an Assistant Professor of Introduction to Law from 1998 to 2001, and Assistant Professor of Civil Law from 2007 to 2008 and in 2007 he was Professor of Business Liabilities and State´s Torts.
He is fluent both in Spanish and English.
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Javier Ugarte is a partner and co-head of GFSU`s Tax Group. His practice area focuses mainly on tax litigation, administrative tax disputes and tax advisory service.
From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Ugarte worked as Supervisor in the tax litigation team at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he was awarded the litigation team of the year by the prestigious "International Tax Review" Journal. Before that, from 2005 to 2010, he worked as an attorney in the Internal Tax Service, (SII), in areas such as tax litigation and internal advisory service in several Regional Offices and also at the National Office of the above mentioned public institution.
Mr. Ugarte studied law at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2003). In 2007 he pursued a postgraduate program in "Applied Tax" at the same Law School, followed two years later by a postgraduate program in Tax Law, majoring in Tax Litigation at Universidad Diego Portales. In 2010 he pursued a Master´s Degree, majoring in Tax Law at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Mr. Ugarte is Professor of Tax Law at Universidad Andrés Bello Law School, of Tax Legal Code in the Postgraduate Course of Applied Tax Law at the Chilean Accountants Bar and of Administrative Disputes in the Postgraduate Program on "New Tax Justice" at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Previously, he was a Professor of Tax Update in several public and private institutions organized by the Chilean Accountants Bar. He was also a monitor of several courses at Escuela de Capacitación del Servicio de Impuestos Internos.
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Sebastián Llona Solís de Ovando is graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University. Lawyer since 2014.
Previously, he worked as judicial paralegal on ordinary and arbitration courts at Estudio Carvallo Ltda., and afterwards, as an investigation paralegal of the litigation group at Carey y Cía.
Between August 2013 and February 2014 he completed his mandatory professional internship at the Human Rights Office at the Justice Assistance Corporation in Santiago.
His practice areas are civil and commercial litigation.
He is currently studying an LL.M. in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
He is fluent both in Spanish and English.
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Xaviera Pucheu Ramírez graduated with highest honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Universidad de Talca. She is a lawyer since 2013.
In 2010 she received the distinction "Honor Roll" and in the year 2012 the distinction "Francisco Antonio Encina Moreno" as the best student of her promotion. In 2011 she served as an intern in the Court of Appeals of Talca.
During her university studies she worked as a teaching assistant in various chairs, including Civil, Procedural and Labor Law.
In 2014 she coursed a Diploma in Litigation and New Procedures at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, receiving the distinction as the best student of her promotion.
In 2015 and 2016 she coursed a Diploma in Taxation at Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad de Chile.
Her practice areas are Tax Litigation, Administrative Tax Disputes and Corporate matters.
She is fluent both in Spanish and English.
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Nibaldo Sepúlveda Verdugo graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University. He is a lawyer since 2014.
From 2010 to 2012 he worked as intern and paralegal of criminal law at Rivadeneira Colombara & Zegers and, afterwards, from 2013 to 2015, he worked at Carvallo as a lawyer in charge of criminal law related with intellectual property, insurance fraud and economic crimes in general.
Between the months of August and December of 2013 he completed his mandatory professional practice at the Center of Attention of Violent Crimes Victims of Santiago of the Corporation of Judicial Assistance.
In 2016 he completed the Diploma in Economic Penalty Law: administrative and criminal, taught by the Faculty of Law of the University of Los Andes.
In 2018, he completed a Diploma in Economic and Business Criminal Law at the University of Chile, taught by the Faculty of Law of said University.
He is currently studying the fall course: "Unfair administration, bribery between private and modifications in matters of public corruption”, taught by the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile.
He is author of the articles “El Nuevo Delito de Fraude de Seguros: análisis dogmático y práctico” (The New Crime of Insurance Fraud: dogmatic and practical analysis) and “¿Tejo pasado o fraude al seguro? El aumento fraudulento de pérdidas como modalidad del tipo del nuevo delito de fraude de seguros” (¿Error in the assessment of damage or insurance fraud? The fraudulent increase of loss as a requirement of the new crime of insurance fraud), both published in 2014 and 2015 in the Chilean Magazine of Insurance Law. In addition, he is the author of the article "On the provenance of the crime of money laundering in the La Polar case", published in Revista Diké, Volume V, No. 1, 2016 of the Faculty of Law of the Alberto Hurtado University.
He holds a Master in Law degree in Criminal and Procedural Law at Universidad Diego Portales, which he approved with honors.
Nibaldo was admitted practice in 2016 and is member of the International Association of Insurance Law.
His practice areas are criminal law, specialized in economic crimes.
Language: Spanish.
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Pablo Sepúlveda León graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University and is a lawyer since 2013.
Prior to entering our study, he worked as a lawyer on civil and corporate matters at Figueroa, Montes, Aninat & Cía. and afterwards, as an intern lawyer in corporate and tax law at Espinosa y Cía. Abogados.
In 2015 he completed a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with a mention in Business Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, which he approved with maximum distinction, and in 2018 he graduated from a Labor Law degree, with mention in Labor Procedure and Litigation, dictated by the same University.
His practice focuses on providing legal advice to national and foreign clients in contractual, commercial and labor matters. Additionally, he participates in civil, commercial and labor litigation.
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Bernardita Videla Muñoz graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. During her university studies, she obteined a certification of specialization in Criminal Law. Previousley she completed an intership at the Public Prosecutor`s Office, Regional Metropolitan North – Center Division. Between the months of March 2014 and September 2014, she completed her mandatory profesional intership at CAVI Santiago, from the Legal Assistance Corporation. She achieved her lawyer degree on January, 2015.
Her practice areas are Tax Litigation, Administrative Tax Disputes and Corporate matters.
She is fluent in Spanish and English.
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Benjamín Bustos Ramírez graduated in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University. He is a lawyer since 2018.
Previously, he worked at KPMG Consultants Limited as a judicial paralegal and then as a lawyer in the dispute resolution in tax matters department, before the Internal Revenue Service (Chilean IRS) and Customs Tributary Courts.
His practice focuses on the area of tax disputes and corporate law.
Languages: Spanish and English.
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Felipe Allende Liquitay graduated in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University. He is a lawyer since July 2015.
Previously he worked as a judicial paralegal in Ovalle y Compañía, after which he became part of Vargas y Asociados. In the aforementioned law firm, he worked as a paralegal at first and, once enabled, as an attorney, with his main focus being complex litigation in high profile cases.
Between the months of August 2014 and February 2015 he underwent his mandatory professional practice at the Judicial Assistance Corporation in Colina, Chile, performing in Family Law matters.
He is part of the list of arbitrators for de Pro Bono Foundation and is a regular speaker for the corporate foundation Eurochile, giving talks related to intellectual property matters for European corporations.
His main practice areas are civil and commercial trials, before ordinary and arbitral courts.
Fluent in both Spanish and English.
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Gerardo Gutiérrez Riquelme is a law graduate from the Universidad de Chile, in process of admission to practice.
From November 2015 until December 2016, he worked as judicial paralegal for our firm.
In the academic field, between January 2016 and March 2017 he was assistant in the Civil Legal Clinic of his university.
Between February 2017 and September 2017, he completed his mandatory professional practice at the Corporation of Judicial Assistance, focusing on writing contracts and public deeds.
His practice focuses in the civil and commercial litigation area, before common and arbitration courts.
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Gissel Palafox Salgado graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University. Lawyer since 2014.
Between 2012 and 2013, she worked as a paralegal in Criminal Law at Carey y Cía.
In 2012, she participated in a pro bono internship at the "Centro de Estudios de Justicia de Las Américas", in which she participated on the development of the 2012 version of the Internet Judicial Access Index project.
Between November 2013 and April 2014, she completed her mandatory professional practice at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ñuñoa, particularly in Sexual Crimes and Domestic Violence areas, obtaining maximum score upon completion.
From October 2014 to April 2017, she worked at Estudio Jurídico IBS, as the lawyer in charge of criminal dispute cases related with medical negligence and economic crimes in general.
She holds a Master in Law Degree in Criminal Law at Universidad Diego Portales, which she approved with honors.
Her practice areas are criminal law, specialized in economic crimes.
She is fluent in English and French.
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Javier Maturana is a law graduate from Universidad de Chile.
From January 2016 until March 2017, he worked as a paralegal in the Intellectual Property Judicial group of Carey y Cía. law firm.
From February to August 2018, he worked as a legal assistant for the Corporación de Asistencia Judicial in Civil matters, as his professional practice.
In the academic field, since 2018 he has served as an assistant in Civil Law and Criminal Law chairs at the University of Chile; and since 2016 as an assistant of the of Intellectual Property and Current Trends chair at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
His practice focuses in the civil and commercial litigation area, before common and arbitration courts.
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Karla Noches Urzúa graduated in Legal and Social Sciences at Universidad Diego Portales in December 2018. She is currently on her certification process, doing her mandatory professional practice at the Corporation of Judicial Assistance, focusing on civil dispute resolution.
She did an internship on Legal Prosecution at Cencosud S.A. between November 2016 and March 2017.
Between December 2017 and October 2018, she worked as corporative and tax paralegal for our firm.
Her practice area is focused on Tax Litigation and Administrative Tax Disputes.
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Valentina Salazar Wattier, graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Diego Portales University. She is a Lawyer since August 2018.
Between August 2017 and February 2018, she did her professional practice in the Metropolitan Regional Office of the National Service for Women and Gender Equality. During the first semester of 2017, she completed an internship at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in San José, Costa Rica. Previously, in 2016, she worked as paralegal for the Albagli Zaliasnik Law Firm.
During the year 2015, she served as assistant of the Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Department of the Diego Portales University. That same year, she did an internship in the Public Criminal Defense Office of Chile and in the Directorate of Studies of the Supreme Court, as a research assistant.
Valentina joined the criminal area of our study since November 2018, concentrating her practice mainly on economic crimes.
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Vesna Torrens Jurin graduated with honors in Legal and Social Sciences at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in 2014. She is a lawyer since 2016.
Between the months of August and December of 2013, she completed an internship at the Public Prosecutor`s Office, Regional Metropolitan North-Center Division.
After that, between December 2014 and January 2015, she completed an internship in the Legal Department of Falabella Bank. Later, she worked as a paralegal until June 2016, and her practice consisted of providing legal advice to the different areas of the bank according to the General Banking Law. In the same period of time she also did her professional practice in the Mediation and Arbitration Center of the Judicial Assistance Corporation. She obtained her lawyer degree on March, 2016.
In June 2016, she joined the law firm of Legal Affairs and Governance of S.A.C.I. Falabella, a position that involved the management, administration and processing of the Falabella group's litigation, mainly in matters of Consumer Law.
In the academic field, during 2016 he completed a diploma in Criminal Law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, called Current Problems of Criminal Law. Also, during the second semester of 2017 she completed a diploma in Consumer Law at the Universidad Diego Portales.
Her current practice at GFSU focuses on civil litigation and arbitration.
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Marcelo Sanfeliú leads GFSU’s criminal litigation practice. He handles all matters of criminal law and specializes in white collar crimes, anti-corruption and money laundering cases. He also specializes in complex litigation, crisis management and design and implementation of compliance programs regarding Law 20,393 on criminal liability of legal entities.
Mr. Sanfeliú has been recognized in White Collar Crimes Litigation, in Latin Lawyer 250, in 2013 and 2015. He was Global Award Winner 2019 as White Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year in Chile.
From 2006 to 2015 he led the Criminal Litigation Team in Carey & Cia., being Director of such firm from 2011 to 2015, where he represented and defended the interests of prestigious national and international companies.
From 2000 to 2005 he was Head District Attorney of La Serena, IV Region of Coquimbo, simultaneously serving as First Assistant to the Regional Attorney General. He was the first public prosecutor appointed in Chile, and as public prosecutor he investigated and litigated many high-stakes cases.
From 1998 to 1999 as lawyer in the Ministry of Justice of the IV Region, Mr. Sanfeliú played an active role in overseeing the implementation of judicial reforms, as his region served as a pilot for the reforms.
Mr. Sanfeliú is a postgraduate Professor of Oral Litigation at the Alberto Hurtado University. He was professor of Oral Litigation and Criminal Procedure at the Catolica del Norte University and he has taught judges for the Chilean Judicial Academy.
International consultant in matters of criminal procedure, training lawyers, judges and public prosecutors in Mexico, Peru and Dominican Republic.
Mr. Sanfeliú studied law at the Diego Portales University and was admitted to the Bar in 1997. In August 1999 and May, 2000, he was trained in oral litigation skills by the Department of Justice of United States, at The National Advocacy Center in Columbia - OPDAT, South Carolina, USA.
Economic Criminal Law Degree, Alberto Hurtado University in 2007. And Academy of American and International Law, The Center of American and International Law, Dallas, Texas, United States in 2010.
Member of the Chilean Bar Association.
Languages: Spanish and English.
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