Carolina Ariza > Ariza & Marin > MEDELLÍN, Colombia > Lawyer Profile

Lawyer, Master’s degree in public law from the University Panthéon-Sorbonne Paris 1, with specialization studies in tax law and civil liability and 12 years of experience in litigation and consulting in public law and civil and state liability. In 2018 she was considered by Dinero magazine as one of the most recognized lawyers in Colombia in the field of conflict resolution. She is an Associate Judge of the Administrative Court of Antioquia and a professor at the Universidad EAFIT.

She is noted for her skill in handling complex negotiations and high impact litigation. She is the concessionaire’s attorney within the concession contract under the Public-Private Partnership scheme of the Antioquia-Bolivar road, in two legal proceedings in which the final layout of the road project will be defined, as well as its financial stability. Represents the interests of various taxpayers in judicial proceedings where the legality of the substantial collections for valorisation purposes is analyzed. She intervenes as a proxy in various judicial and administrative expropriation processes.

She provides legal advice on the execution of various infrastructure contracts such as road concessions and public works, as well as consulting, design and auditing contracts. Since 2011 she is a legal advisor to the contractor (Spanish and Korean companies) in charge of the construction of the largest wastewater treatment plant of its kind in Colombia, which she successfully represented before the Dispute Board achieving a favourable decision of the financial disputes for COP 75,704,419,912 – EU 15,351,199 – USD 13,363,867. In the energy sector, closed a transaction concerning the contract for the construction, assembly, testing and commissioning of 500 kV transmission lines in 81 km (Medellin-San Marcos, Valle del Cauca) and currently she is legal counsel to various energy sector companies.

Her efficiency in closing transactions has allowed her to design and implement legal solutions to resolve issues of great social and economic significance. It is worth mentioning the agreement closed with Banco Colpatria and Acción Fiduciaria, on behalf of 44 buyers, which allowed the completion of a real estate project that could finally be completed and occupied in 2018. She has been empowered in dozens of processes for the effectiveness of the legal guarantee, being in progress today the processes initiated on behalf of two different Horizontal Properties conformed by 478 housing units, and 248 apartments, the latter was evacuated since October 24, 2019, due to risk of collapse.

She defends civil servants and former civil servants and engineering and architecture professionals before the respective disciplinary bodies. In this field, she defended the engineers linked to the CDO group, on the occasion of the partial collapse and implosion of one of its buildings and the evacuation of three others. She successfully defended the former Secretary of Security of the municipality of Medellín and is currently defending the former Secretary General (e) of the Medellín Metro, both of whom are being investigated by the Medellín Prosecutor’s office.