Ms María Carolina Durán > Baker Botts L.L.P. > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Baker Botts L.L.P. Offices
700 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001-5692
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
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Ms María Carolina Durán
Work Department
Litigation / International Disputes
Position
Special Counsel
Career
María Carolina Durán focuses her practice on international dispute settlement, particularly investment treaty arbitration and international commercial arbitration. Trained both in civil and common law, she has extensive experience representing cross-border investors and States in complex and high-profile disputes relating to investments in multiple economic sectors, including electricity, mining, oil and gas, real estate, and infrastructure development.
Ms. Durán has successfully represented clients in arbitral proceedings conducted in English and Spanish under the ICC, ICSID, ICSID Additional Facility, and UNCITRAL rules. Notable successes include representing clients in various investor-state arbitrations with a total of US $59 billion in claims.
She is also a frequent speaker in international arbitration forums.
Before joining Baker Botts, María Carolina worked for more than a decade in the international arbitration practice of another global firm and in a leading law firm in Colombia. In Colombia, María Carolina advised private entities from different economic sectors, including the mining and hydrocarbons sectors, in the structuring and execution of investment projects in Colombia, and advised clients in administrative processes and administrative litigation.
María Carolina also worked as a consultant at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, focusing her work on the analysis of public policies related to the foreign investment climate in the Latin American and MENA regions. María Carolina also worked at the Foreign Investment Department of ProColombia, an entity attached to the Colombian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism.
María Carolina is a native Spanish speaker, is fluent in English and speaks French.
María Carolina is Co-founder of Georgetown International Arbitration Alumni group.
Memberships
District of Columbia Bar
New York State Bar
Republic of Colombia Bar
Education
LL.M., Georgetown University Law Center 2012
J.D., Universidad de los Andes 2009
Lawyer Rankings
Latin America: International firms > International arbitration
(Rising stars)Baker Botts L.L.P. has a rich background in Latin America international arbitration. With a strong background in public international law cases, the firm has also built out a thriving commercial arbitration practice. The firm is noted for its ongoing representation of a sovereign state in Latin America as well as a number of state-owned enterprises. It has also built a foreign investor client base, along with further oil and gas businesses in Brazil. Much of the practice centres on oil and gas, power, electricity generation and renewables, along with some political risk matters for US property developers. Alejandro Escobar leads the firm’s public international law practice from London, where he has a lengthy track record in sovereign cases. Houston’s Edward Schorr is also noted for cases related to Brazil, while New York partner Andrew Behrman provides further senior firepower. London senior associate Ernesto Féliz De Jesús is a public international law specialist with a focus on Latin America. The practice was further strengthened with the hires of former Sidley Austin LLP international arbitration partner Jennifer Haworth McCandless and managing associate, María Carolina Durán (as special counsel) to the firm’s Washington DC office in August 2023.
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Energy > Energy litigation: oil and gas
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
Firm Rankings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Energy > Energy litigation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Finance > Project finance
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense