Santiago is senior partner of Bufete Aguirre, Quintanilla, Soria & Nishizawa, specialist in the Corporate, Banking, and Natural Resources practices. His practice focuses in M&A, greenfield projects, structuring of loans, negotiation and drafting of different kinds of contracts. He is an arbitrator in the Center of Arbitration and Conciliation of the National Chamber of Commerce, and regularly participates as a member of arbitral tribunals that deal with relevant cases in Bolivia. He also counsels clients and participates as an expert in Bolivian law in diverse international arbitrations.

He has served as National Director of the Registry of Commerce and Corporations of Bolivia, and as General Counsel to the Ministry of Capitalization. He practiced as a foreign associate of O’Melveny & Myers LLP in its New York Office.

Since young, Santiago has been a supporter of education of Bolivian children and cultural activities in general. He is co-founder and past President of Fundación UNISOL, co-founder and director of Fundación Cultural Boliviano Japonesa La Paz, co-founder and President of Fundación San Juan.

EDUCATION:

• Master in Laws (LL.M.), Columbia Law School, New York, NY, USA, May 2004. Recognized as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar for his excellent academic performance.
• Master in Laws (LL.M) with mention Corporate Law and International Transactions, Chuo University, Graduate School of Law, Tokyo, Japan, March 1992.
• Juris Doctor (Licenciado en Derecho), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia, March 1989.
• Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA., USA, Program of Instruction for Lawyers, June 1996.
• Georgetown University and International Law Institute, Washington DC, USA, Program of Orientation in the U.S. Legal System, July – August, 1992.

AWARDS:

• Ranked by legal directories “Chambers and Partners – Latin America”, “Legal 500” and “IFLR 1000” as a leading lawyer in the areas of Corporate-Commercial Practice, Energy and Natural Resources, and Banking and Finance.

MEMBERSHIPS:

• Registry of Attorney at Law of the Ministry of Justice of Bolivia
• La Paz Bar Association
• Bolivian Bar Association