Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga is a leading practitioner in the field of investor-State international arbitration, international commercial arbitration, and transnational litigation. He is the Global Co-Leader of the firm’s International Arbitration Practice. Mr. Martinez-Fraga is a World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) arbitrator. On December 16, 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Martinez-Fraga as one of four U.S. delegate members to the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (World Bank), effective February 23, 2016. In April 2021, the Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law bestowed on Mr. Martinez-Fraga the prestigious distinction of inviting him to teach the Special Course on Private International Law in the Summer of 2023.
He serves on the Advisory Council of the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the U.S. Law on International Commercial Arbitration and Investor-State Arbitration. Mr. Martinez-Fraga was appointed to serve on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law as of April 11, 2022.
Mr. Martinez-Fraga has been appointed to serve on the Awards Review Committee of the Madrid International Arbitration Center (Centro Internacional de Arbitraje de Madrid) for a three-year renewable term. In that capacity he also will serve as an arbitrator in disputes in the construction and energy sectors, as well as arbitrations involving States and State entities.
He has represented the Republic of Argentina, the Republic of Guatemala, the Republic of El Salvador, the Federated Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Ecuador, instrumentalities of the Kingdom of Spain, the Dominican Republic, and most recently The Supreme Court of Venezuela. He has served as an arbitrator in International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), UNCITRAL Ad Hoc international commercial and investor-State arbitrations, and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (World Bank) proceedings.
His more notable representations include serving as lead U.S. counsel on behalf of the Republic of Chile in the case against former Chilean President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Senator pour vie Augusto Pinochet.
Mr. Martinez-Fraga was the Exclusive Winner of the 2019 Lexology Client Choice International Arbitration & ADR Award for Florida. One client noted "his critical thinking and powerful mindset allows him to solve the most difficult cases; he is able to find a rapid solution to the problem." Another client observed "through his creative analysis and work ethic he can outmanoeuvre an adverse party; he has a hands-on approach." During his tenure at another law firm, Mr. Martinez-Fraga was recognized by the prestigious legal publication Chambers for being “widely regarded as the firm’s key player in the field” and it was noted that he “is considered to offer a considerable depth of experience in matters relating to Latin America, not to mention the Spanish-speaking world in general.” Recently Chambers noted that Mr. Martinez-Fraga "is well liked by clients, who value his understanding of what the client wants and ability to find a very unique way to achieve their goals. He has long-standing experience of Latin American dispute resolution matters." Legal 500 Latin America wrote of Mr. Martinez-Fraga and his team that "BCLP fields a number of ‘outstanding practitioners with great technical ability’ and the team has considerable experience handling both commercial arbitration and investor-state disputes." Mr. Martinez-Fraga has also received recommendations as a Global Leader from Who's Who Legal in areas such as Commercial Litigation and Arbitration. In addition, BCLP is ranked by Latinvex as a top law firm for arbitration and as a top law firm overall.
Mr. Martinez-Fraga also maintains an active international human rights practice, serving as lead counsel in a landmark case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He served as a member of the Center for Human Rights Advisory Council of the American Bar Association.
A noted scholar, author and lecturer in the fields of public and private international law, Mr. Martinez-Fraga has been published in 15 countries and five languages. He has written more than 50 peer-reviewed or academically reviewed articles, 10 books on private and public procedural international law and is the co-editor and a contributing author of a book on international arbitration. Four of his books are published by Cambridge University Press and form part of every major academic law library and legal research center globally. Additionally, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has published and translated two of his books into Mandarin. The Universidad del Pacífico honored Mr. Martinez-Fraga with a special book launch highlighting the Spanish language edition of “Public Purpose in International Law: Rethinking Regulatory Sovereignty in a Global Era” (Cambridge University Press), titled: "La Utilidad Pública en el Derecho Internacional: Una Revisión de la Soberanía Regulatoria en la Era Global."
