Estefanía Fierro

Meet Estefanía:

Estefanía joined AVL Abogados in 2010. She focuses her practice in Arbitration, Complex Litigation and Competition Law and Life Science departments.

She has represented clients in more than twenty local and international arbitrations across various industrial sectors, including engineering and construction, power generation and hydrocarbons, mining, transport and telecommunications, food, and distribution. These arbitrations have been conducted under UNCITRAL, ICC, Quito Chamber of Commerce (CCQ), Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), and Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce rules.

She has also advised clients in various proceedings before the competition authority regarding abuse of power, restrictive agreements, and concentration operations in the pharmaceutical, insurance, telecommunications, and logistics industries. Additionally, her background in the Life Sciences industry enables her to represent pharmaceutical companies in complex regulatory and compliance matters, combining her legal knowledge with her expertise in bioethics.

Estefanía combines her professional practice with the educational field, serving as a professor of Civil Law at USFQ, which makes her a key member of the team due to her knowledge and specialization in Civil Law and Tort Law.

She is arbitration secretary of the Arbitration and Mediation Center of AMCHAM Quito and CIAM Madrid. She is currently the co-director of the Ecuadorian Journal of Arbitration.

Experience in Litigation and Arbitration  

• Advising an investment fund listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange for a commercial dispute over the sale of shares under New York law for an amount in excess of 10 million.
  
  

• Defense of an Ecuadorian municipality in two international arbitrations, based in Santiago, Chile, under ICC rules, relating to the construction of a railway project.
  
  
• Advising a Chilean state-owned petroleum company in an arbitration carried out before the AMCHAM of Quito alleging breach of contract, abuse of rights and piercing the corporate veil.
  
  

• Advising an Ecuadorian state-owned petroleum company in a US$ 120 million arbitration initiated by foreign investors before the Quito Chamber of Commerce.
  
  

• Advising a leading multinational company in the beverage industry in an arbitration for the termination of a distribution contract before the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce for an amount in excess of US$ 10 million.
  
  

• Advising one of the largest mining companies in the country in civil proceedings for alleged damages caused by its operation.
  
  

• Advising several mining companies in constitutional challenges to environmental licenses and mining concessions. Our advice included defending our clients before the Constitutional Court.
  
  

• Advising one of the leading telecommunications companies in civil action to enforce real and personal guarantees granted in distribution contracts.
  
  

Life Science Expertise

• Advising one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies for more than 10 years to day-to-day of its operation, including the negotiation of dozens of distribution contracts, patient support program agreements, medicines and medical devices supply agreements with public and private entities.
  
  

• Comprehensive and complete advice to pharmaceutical companies on drug pricing procedures, especially in the case of new and strategic drugs.
  
  

• Advising pharmaceutical companies on drug advertising and promotion programs.
  
  

• Advising pharmaceutical laboratories on regulations on compassionate use of medicines and clinical trials.
  
  

• Advising several pharmaceutical companies in the negotiation of representation, agency, commission, distribution and logistics operation contracts.
  
  

• Advising several pharmaceutical laboratories on agency, distribution and pricing schemes for their products in Ecuador.
  
  

Competition and regulatory expertise 

• Advising a pharmaceutical laboratory on its entire agency, distribution and pricing scheme for its products in Ecuador, as well as on discounts, verifying their compliance with competition regulations and avoiding discriminatory or predatory practices.
  
  

• Advising a pharmaceutical company in an investigation initiated by the competition authority for alleged refusal to supply products to public hospitals.
  
  

• Advising the main pharmacy chains in Ecuador in the investigation procedures regarding complaints of price discrimination and exclusive distribution.
  
  

• Representation of companies in dozens of investigations proceedings conducted by the Ecuadorian competition authority for abusive practices and restrictive agreements in the pharmaceutical, automotive, cement, distribution, insurance and software industries, especially collusion, price fixing, essential facilities and refusal to supply.
  
  

• Advising the World Bank and the OECD on the state of competition and regulation in the energy, gas, telecommunications, postal, transportation and water industries in Ecuador.
  
  

• Obtained prior authorizations for mergers and concentrations of companies in the gas, insurance, food, beverage and pharmaceutical distribution industries.
  
  
• Conducted more than a dozen preventive audits, training and compliance programs in the pharmaceutical, insurance, automotive, gas, cement, telecommunications, food, transportation and logistics industries, among others.
  
  

Formation           

• Lawyer (JD), magna laude, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador.
  
  
• Specialization in Contracts and Damages, University of Salamanca, Spain
  
  
• Postgraduate Diploma in European Competition Law, King’s College London, England.
  
  
• Master of Laws (LL.M), McGill University, Canada.

Memberships 

• Ecuadorian Bar Forum
  
  
• Member of the Ecuadorian Institute of Arbitration
  
  
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Organizing Committee of the National Arbitration Competition of Ecuador

Certifications/Other

• Professor of Law and Contracts Objects, USFQ, Ecuador.
  
  

• Co-director of the Ecuadorian Journal of Arbitration of the Ecuadorian Institute of Arbitration.
  
  

• Arbitration Secretary of the International Arbitration Center of Madrid, Spain.
  
  

• Secretary of the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce, Ecuador.
  
  

• Arbitrator of the list of the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the UESS, Ecuador.
  
  

Publications

• Fierro Valle, Estefanía. ” El Issue Conflict en arbitraje internacional. El fenómeno del double-hatting “. Arbitration Review. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú, (2014).
  
  

• Fierro Valle, Estefanía, Carolina Arroyo Aguirre and Xavier Andrade Cadena. “Vices, biases and referee spells.” Ecuadorian Journal of Arbitration (2016): 17-38.
  
  
• Fierro Valle, Estefania, and others. ” Veinticuatro años de la acción de nulidad de laudos: un análisis empírico ” Ecuadorian Journal of Arbitration (2022): 137-174.