Career Biography

Yamil Mobarec was born in Sucre, is 38 years old and holds a law degree from San Francisco Xavier University of Chuquisaca. With 12 years of experience in insurance law, he currently works as legal counsel at Bisa Seguros y Reaseguros S.A. in La Paz, where he specialises primarily in resolving and analysing matters related to the legal assessment of claims and insurance contracts.

He has also served as a commercial arbitrator at the Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services and Tourism of Chuquisaca (CAINCO) since 2025.

During his time in Sucre, he completed an internship at the former National Agrarian Court. After obtaining his law degree, he worked as an independent consultant. Prior to his current role, he served as legal inspector in the claims department and as SOAT legal counsel at the same company in Cochabamba.

Regarding his academic background, after graduating in Sucre, he moved to Cochabamba, where he obtained a master’s degree in business law from the Bolivian Private University.

He subsequently continued his education through various workshops and courses related to law, politics, neuroscience and insurance.

Within his area of specialisation, he began with a diploma in risk, insurance and reinsurance from the University of the Valley. Recognising the importance of alternative dispute resolution methods in his professional responsibilities, he also completed a diploma in negotiation, conciliation and arbitration at the Bolivian Private University.

To deepen his knowledge of insurance law, he obtained a specialisation in insurance law from the University of Salamanca, Spain, which he completed in person. This enabled him to develop more specialised expertise in this area.

He also completed a distance-learning diploma in neuroscience at the University of Salamanca, in collaboration with the Braidot Institute, with the aim of improving his cognitive abilities and developing various aspects of his personal and professional life.

He is currently completing an in-person specialisation in contracts and damages law at the University of Salamanca, Spain.

Finally, regarding his hobbies and interests, he has a particular passion for books, especially literature and essays. He also enjoys travelling and physical activities, including going to the gym and playing football.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?

One of my main responsibilities as in-house legal counsel for an insurance company is to assess the need to engage external legal counsel when there are circumstances that prevent the insurer’s internal legal department from handling cases that require a high degree of specialisation in a particular area of law.

Another important factor in determining whether to engage external law firms arises when litigation cannot be avoided, whether with third parties, policyholders or even employees of the company.

Referring these types of cases and disputes to external legal counsel enables the company’s in-house legal counsel to carry out their day-to-day responsibilities efficiently and effectively, as it would be practically impossible for them to cover every area of law while also having sufficient time to conduct litigation, which requires a significant degree of presence and ongoing follow-up before courts and arbitration centres.

However, the work of external legal counsel must be closely coordinated and supervised by the insurer’s in-house legal counsel, who should request legal reports in order to remain informed of the status of each case and evaluate their performance according to criteria such as responsibility, trust, knowledge, ethics and, above all, favourable outcomes for the insurer.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about? Why is this?

Working at the intersection between insurance innovation in Bolivia, which is developing at an increasingly rapid pace, and legal certainty, which must be reflected in well-drafted contracts and the legal analysis of claims, presents many challenges in my field of work.

The fact that there are regulatory shortcomings in our country in relation to insurance law presents a significant challenge, considering that one of the main pieces of legislation governing insurance activity in the country, Decree Law No. 14379 (Commercial Code), dates back to 1977. In other words, it has been in force for almost half a century, reflecting an era in which commercial practices were very different from those of today, when neither the technological developments we now see nor the emergence of new risks were contemplated.

For this reason, we could say that the legal framework governing insurer-policyholder relationships is outdated and contains a considerable number of legal gaps, leaving open the possibility of relying on legal doctrine and case law.

In this context, the proactive approach required of an insurer’s legal counsel when analysing claims and proposing new wording for policies to be marketed, while always safeguarding the legal certainty of all parties to the contract and seeking to avoid disputes, is a fundamental pillar in building a better framework for insurance law. This has become a personal and professional cause that requires a high degree of passion.