Mrs Nicole Nehme > FerradaNehme > Santiago, Chile > Lawyer Profile

According to some clients, FerradaNehme is ‘the best office in Chile for free competition without a doubt’. The 22-strong competition and regulation practice handles a large number of significant competition law cases in Chile, including both contentious and non-contentious proceedings. Its representative expertise covers mergers, collusion allegations, competition compliance, litigation involving the FNE, and cases before Chile’s TDLC. Clients additionally benefit from the firm’s sector expertise in air transportation, retail, telecoms, mining, banking, energy, ports, railways and electricity, along with oil and gas, pensions, casinos, health insurance and software. The practice is co-led by longstanding competition and regulatory law practitioner Nicole Nehme, an ‘exceptional lawyer’ who has enviable experience in litigating TDLC cases; Diego Hernández, whose expertise encompasses antitrust compliance programmes, representing clients in TDLC proceedings and assisting with FNE matters (particularly merger control work and cartel and abuse of dominant position investigations); Benjamín Mordoj, a well-known adviser on preventive work; and Mabel Ahumada, who primarily focuses on mergers, FNE investigations, compliance and preventive matters. At director level, Catalina Íñiguez, Beatriz Hidalgo, Josefina Campos and Raffaela Corte are also key team members, while counsel Sebastián Dufeu currently leads the firm’s telecoms-related investigations’ practice, that handles cases brought before the TDLC and FNE.

‘Always ready to update clients on case developments’, FerradaNehme‘s seven-strong complex litigation group routinely acts in high-stakes litigation concerning unfair competition, consumer matters, banking law, telecoms, civil law, and construction. The department is co-led by competition and regulatory law expert Nicole Nehme; and civil, commercial and economic litigation specialist Nicolás Ubilla, who is ‘very clear when proposing strategies’. Raised to counsel level in March 2024, civil and commercial litigation practitioner Pablo Cornejo also has notable arbitration experience. In a notable development, ‘excellent lawyer’ and former partner Marcela Rodríguez took on a counsel role at the firm in September 2023, further to relocating abroad.

The six-strong TMT practice at FerradaNehme specialises in advising telecoms companies on internet service provision, OTT media services, fixed and mobile telephony, and data centre as a service (DCaaS) matters. The group’s expertise covers tariff fixations, interconnection issues, open access, radio spectrum auctions, and mobile virtual operators. Its offering also includes tariff setting, IT law, IP and compliance, as well as emerging areas such as AI, cloud computing, SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). The practice further extends to personal data protection, international vendor agreements and technology transformation strategies. The team is co-led by Nicole Nehme, who focuses on the constitutional, regulatory and compliance aspects of TMT, along with litigation; and Stella Muñoz, who assists with TMT-related consumer law issues. The practice also includes of counsel Sebastián Dufeu, who currently heads the firm’s telecoms-related Antitrust Court and National Economic Prosecutor actions and investigations; and practice director Sebastián Morales (an ‘expert lawyer in telecoms matters’), who advises on the regulation of television, internet, and fixed and mobile telephony industries. Recent growth for the senior associate team includes the April 2023 promotion of Mario Garfias and January 2024 incorporation of the firm’s former external counsel Bernarda Muñoz. Since publication, the firm has further strengthened the team with the hire of Miguel Oyonarte, formerly the general counsel of Nextel Chile, as a partner – effective as of March 2025.