M. Cristina Cárdenas

M. Cristina Cárdenas focuses her practice on international arbitration and complex commercial litigation. She is a native Spanish speaker and has experience representing clients in a variety of complex international arbitrations and business disputes.

Cristina has served as counsel, both in Spanish and in English, before many of the most important arbitral institutions, including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission (IACAC). She also coordinates and oversees work of local counsel in connection with litigation proceedings in Latin America.

Education :

• University of Miami School of Law, 2004, LL.M.
• University of Florida, 2003, J.D., Assistant Editor in Chief of the Florida Journal of International Law
• University of North Carolina, 1998, B.A.

Professional Admissions & Qualifications : Florida

Court Admissions :

• U.S. District Court – Southern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court – Middle District of Florida
• All State Courts – Florida

Professional Affiliations :

• Chair Elect of the Miami International Arbitration Society
• Co-Chair of the Miami Advisory Committee for the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR)
• American Bar Association Section of International Law
  • Deputy to the Secretary/Operations Officer of the ABA Section of International Law
  • Former Disputes Division Chair of the ABA Section of International Law
  • Co-Chair of the 2017 Fall Meeting and Co-Chair 2012 Fall Meeting of the ABA Section of International Law
  • Former Co-Chair of the Section’s Latin American and Caribbean Committee of the ABA Section of International Law
• Member of ICCA Miami 2014 Organizational Committee

EXPERIENCE :

• Counsel in an IACAC arbitration to Respondent in a shareholder dispute in which one shareholder disputes the other shareholder’s sale of stock to a third party.
• Counsel in an UNCITRAL arbitration to a group of U.S. investors who had their property expropriated without compensation by a Latin American country in order to build a new airport
• Counsel in an ICDR arbitration to multiple affiliates of an international conglomerate that entered into contracts with a Brazilian company for the distribution of high-tech medical equipment in Brazil
• Counsel to a Canadian company in proceedings in the United to confirm and enforce an arbitral award rendered against Ecuador under the Canada / Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty
• Counsel to a subsidiary of European multinationals with minority Latin American partners that provides public utility services in an Andean country in an ICC arbitration with the state’s regulator over the tariff that the utility provider can charge.