Mr Luis Eduardo Toro > Barros & Errázuriz > Santiago, Chile > Lawyer Profile

‘Positioning itself as a market leader due to its extensive track record and successful results’, Barros & Errázuriz‘s competition and antitrust team has longstanding involvement in high-stakes TDLC cases. The seven-strong department (including three partners) is also consistently mandated by national and international clients to assist with investigations before the FNE; and in relation to merger control matters, the team is notably specialised in concentration notifications. The team’s competition work further includes advice to companies on preventing anti-competitive conduct, such assistance encompassing commercial policy reviews, along with the establishment of business protocols and compliance programmes. It additionally advises trade associations on competition issues. The team is co-led by litigation and arbitration specialist Luis Eduardo Toro; merger control practice head Francisco Bórquez, who ‘has outstanding experience in antitrust issues’, and whose workload includes day-to-day competition advice, including compliance and administrative and judicial procedures before the FNE and TDLC; and José Luis Corvalán, whose expertise covers both litigation and competition and antitrust law. At associate level, senior Catalina Villalobos – an adviser on mergers, litigation and anti-competitive practices – is a former legal deputy at the FNE’s mergers division; and the practices of both Josefina Poblete and Virginia González focus on mergers and anti-competitive conduct.

Full-service firm Barros & Errázuriz is home to an 11-member team that is sought out for both high-stakes class actions and mediation processes with Chile’s Consumer Law Authority (SERNAC). The practice’s client base spans a broad range of sectors including public services, utilities and telecoms (including mobile services and satellite TV), along with education, real estate, postal services and healthcare. Notable examples include Sky Airlines, Delta Airlines and DirecTv Chile. Recent highlights saw the group act for Automotoras Kauffman, Bruno Fritsch and Guillermo Morales in a class action brought by Chilean consumer organisation, Conadecus, against seven vehicle sales companies (and three financial companies), the matter alleging consumer law misconduct. Civil and commercial litigation and arbitration specialist, Javier San Martín, advises on consumer law matters, in addition to acting in class action lawsuits and other actions filed by SERNAC or individuals; Luis Eduardo Toro is a competition and antitrust specialist, whose litigation experience also covers consumer law; David Cademartori advises on consumer matters, in addition to focusing on administrative and public law; and arbitration, litigation and antitrust law practitioner José Luis Corvalán is experienced in class actions. In the senior associate ranks, Isidora Fernández and Nicole Nannig both advise on consumer law.

The ‘committed and very responsible’ arbitration practice at Barros & Errázuriz acts for clients from a range of industries, including construction, engineering, real estate, ports and chemical products. The 18-strong team also assists with disputes involving investment funds, education, food, logistics, water supply, pharmaceuticals, and vineyards. The full-service firm’s dispute resolution experts act in domestic and international commercial arbitrations concerning civil and commercial law, tax, bankruptcies, real estate and antitrust; and the group is notably experienced in energy and telecoms-related disputes. Several of the firm’s partners also regularly sit as arbitrators. The team is co-led by contract, consumer, commercial and antitrust law specialist Luis Eduardo Toro, who is particularly experienced in complex commercial arbitrations; and founding partner José Tomás Errázuriz, an expert in corporate, finance, energy, telecoms and antitrust-related cases. The practice further showcases experienced dispute resolution practitioner Javier San Martín; José Luis Corvalán, whose civil and commercial litigation workload encompasses both domestic and international arbitrations; and administrative law specialist David Cademartori. In the firm’s senior associate team, Isidora Fernández acts in domestic arbitrations involving civil liability, corporate and construction disputes; Milton Gutcovsky acts in national and international arbitrations under ICC and UNCITRAL rules; and Nicole Nannig regularly acts as an actuary at CAM Santiago.

Barros & Errázuriz fields a large, 17-strong litigation practice that acts in the gamut of civil and commercial litigation work, including appearing before Chile’s Courts of Appeals and Supreme Courts. The full-service team also acts in domestic and international arbitrations, mediation proceedings and cases before national regulatory agencies. Its expertise ranges from civil and commercial law disputes, to tax, bankruptcy, real estate and antitrust matters. The group is additionally experienced in regulated areas, such as energy and telecoms; and its recent caseload includes major construction project and real estate development-related litigation. The group is co-led by Luis Eduardo Toro, whose litigation expertise covers energy and telecoms disputes, as well as contractual liability and damages-related suits; and longstanding disputes expert José Tomás Errázuriz. The department further showcases Javier San Martín, a specialist in dispute resolution, consumer protection law, reorganisations, individual bankruptcies and company liquidations; David Cademartori, whose track record encompasses administrative proceedings before government entities, along with civil and administrative litigation before Chile’s ordinary courts of justice; and civil and commercial litigation practitioner José Luis Corvalán, who is ‘an outstanding professional with great communication skills’. At senior associate level, Isidora Fernández, Milton Gutcovsky and Nicole Nannig all act in civil and commercial litigation.