Ana María Durán specializes in international arbitration, working across both investment arbitration and commercial arbitration matters. Currently based in Bogotá D.C, she has acted in over 20 international arbitrations, spanning several industries, including oil and gas, mining, electricity, transportation, construction and telecommunications.

Ana María has experience representing clients in complex disputes involving multiple jurisdictions, the application of public and private international law, domestic laws, and various procedural institutional rules, including ICSID, ICC, UNCITRAL, the Lima Chamber of Commerce and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce.  She has also represented clients in relation to annulment proceedings under the ICSID Rules and sits as tribunal assistant in commercial arbitrations.

Ana María has lectured at universities in Colombia, and currently teaches the course on treaties and international arbitration in the Master’s program on Public Contracting and its Management at Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. She has also experience coaching and preparing students for moot court competitions, specially, the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition.

Prior to joining Wordstone, she was an associate within the international arbitration practice of a global law firm based in Washington D.C. Before that, she was legal advisor to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the defence of the Colombian State in cases before the International Court of Justice. Ana was also an attorney at a leading law firm in Bogotá where she focused her practice on commercial and administrative litigation, as well as arbitration proceedings in various sectors.

• Advising the Republic of Guatemala against Colombian investors in an ICSID arbitration concerning the construction of a power transmission line.
• Advising the Spanish subsidiary of an American energy company against a Spanish electric utility company in an ICC arbitration arising from a supply agreement for a generator circuit-breaker in nuclear plant.
• Advising a South America State-owned enterprise against the Republic of Chile in an ICSID arbitration concerning the construction of a power transmission line.
• Advising a South American State against a Spanish Company in an ICC arbitration arising from an oil and gas contract.
• Advising a Bolivian state entity against an Indian company in an ICC arbitration arising from a contract for the joint exploitation of a mining concession.
• Advising the Czech Republic against a Swiss company and its subsidiary in an ICSID annulment proceeding.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against Glencore International A.G., C. I. Prodeco S.A. and Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Nuevo S.A. in an ICSID arbitration concerning a concession for the operation of a maritime port and the application of the country’s antitrust regulations.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against Telefónica S.A in an ICSID arbitration arising concerning a concession contract in the telecommunications industry, a decision of the Constitutional Court of the State and a decision of a domestic arbitral tribunal.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against América Móvil S.A.B. de C.V. in an ICSID arbitration concerning a concession contract in the telecommunications industry, a decision of the Constitutional Court of the State and a decision of a domestic arbitral tribunal.
• Advising a group of Chilean investors against a pharmaceutical company in an ICC arbitration concerning a share purchase agreement.
• Advising the Plurinational State of Bolivia against a U.S. citizen and the Bolivian company in which he owns a controlling interest in a PCA arbitration under the rules of UNCITRAL arising from a mining concession held by the company in Bolivia.
• Advising the Republic of Guatemala against an Israeli investor in a PCA arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules concerning criminal tax fraud claims brought by the country’s tax administration.
• Advising the Czech Republic against a Swiss company and its subsidiary in an ICISID arbitration concerning the annulment of a zoning change.
• Advising the Republic of Guatemala against a Spanish company in an ICSID arbitration concerning changes in the electricity regulatory framework.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against Glencore International A.G. and C.I. Prodeco S.A. in an ICSID arbitration arising from the alleged threat of annulling a modification of a mining exploitation contract for a large-scale coal project in Colombia.
• Advising the Plurinational State of Bolivia against Glencore (Bermuda) Finance in a PCA arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules arising from the reversion of Bolivia’s largest tin/zinc mine (Colquiri), a tin smelter and an antimony smelter.
• Advising a Caribbean State in an ICC commercial arbitration commenced by a Spanish company, concerning a concession contract for the construction and operation of a wind farm, as well as the negotiation of a power purchase agreement with a state-owned entity.
• Advising two Colombian investors against the Republic of Chile in an ICSID arbitration concerning a concession of public transportation.
• Advising a group of Costa Rican and Dutch investors, Álvarez y Marín Corporación S.A. and others, against the Republic of Panama in an ICSID arbitration arising from the construction and development of an ecotourism resort on the Panamanian coast.
• Advising the Plurinational State of Bolivia against a Chilean company and its subsidiary in an ICSID annulment proceeding.

Yale University, Master of Laws (LLM), 2017

Universidad de los Andes, Lawyer, summa cum laude, 2013

Universidad de los Andes, Professional in Languages and Sociocultural Studies, cum laude, 2013

Bogotá

New York

Spanish and English

• International Law as Law, in Handbook of International Law (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) (2022)
• The New York Convention’s Concept of Arbitration and the Enforcement of Multilateral Investment Court Decisions, in 60 Years of the New York Convention: Key Issues and Future Challenges (Kluwer) (2019) (coauthor)
• Investment Arbitration and the Role of the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, in Arbitration