Luiz Olavo Baptista

Professor of International Trade Law at the University of São Paulo Law School

Born in Brazil in 1938, Luiz Olavo Baptista is currently Professor of International Trade Law at the University of São Paulo Law School.

He has been a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague since 1996, and of the International Chambre of Commerce (ICC) Institute for International Trade Practices and of its Commission on Trade and Investment Policy, since 1999. In addition, he has been one of the arbitrators designated under Mercosur's Protocol of Brasilia since 1993.

Professor Baptista is also senior partner at the L.O. Baptista Law Firm, in São Paulo, Brazil, where he concentrates his practice on corporate law, arbitration and international litigation. He has been practicing law for almost 40 years advising governments, international organizations and large corporations in Brazil and in other jurisdictions. Professor Baptista has been an arbitrator at the United Nations Compensation Commission (E4A Panel) in several private commercial disputes and State-investor proceedings, as well as in disputes under Mercosur's Protocol of Brasilia. In addition, he has participated as a legal advisor in diverse projects sponsored by the World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Center on Transnational Corporations (UNCTC), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

He obtained his law degree from the Catholic University of São Paulo, pursued post-graduate studies at Columbia University Law School and The Hague Academy of International Law, and received a Ph.D in International Law from the University of Paris II. He was Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 1978-1979, and at the University of Paris I and the University of Paris X between 1996 and 2000. Professor Baptista has published extensively on various issues in Brazil and abroad.