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Rodrigo Benítez

Partner+56 2 2385 0000

His practice primarily focuses on strategic advice for the environmental assessment of investment projects in areas such as mining, energy, real estate, infrastructure, and agribusiness.Additionally, he works on defining strategies for the administrative and judicial defense of these types of projects.He served as Undersecretary and Head of the Legal Division at the Ministry of the Environment (2010–2014 / 2018) and was member of the Presidential Advisory Commission for the study of a reform to the Environmental Impact Assessment System (appointed through D.S. No. 20 of 2015, Ministry of the Environment).Previously, he worked at Jara Del Favero Abogados and was a partner at Baker & McKenzie.

Awards and Recognition
He has been consistently ranked since 2016 in Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers, and Leaders League.

Education

  • Law, School of Law, Universidad Católica de Chile (2005).
  • Diploma in Environmental Law, Universidad Católica de Chile (2006).

Activities and Memberships

  • He has been a lecturer of environmental law at Universidad Católica School of Law ((2013).
  • He has been a lecturer in the Master’s in Environmental Law at Universidad Finis Terrae (2021).
  • He is a member of the Legal Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law.

Publications

  • Environmental assessment and climate change: Criteria for its proper determination within projects or activities subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment System, in Revista de Derecho Ambiental, No. 13, Universidad de Chile, 2020.
  • Criteria for determining the compatibility between the invalidation power and administrative and judicial remedies according to the provisions of the final paragraph of Article 17 No. 8 of Law No. 20.600, in Revista de Derecho Ambiental No. 8, Universidad de Chile, 2017.
  • The invalidation power of environmental administrative acts, in Revista de Derecho, Second Era, Year II, No. 2, Ediciones Universidad Finis Terrae, 2014.
  • Legal nature and powers of the ministers’ committee, in Revista Actualidad Jurídica No. 30, Universidad del Desarrollo, 2014.
  • Judicial trends in energy projects: Balance and Projections, Actas de Derecho de la Energía No. 2, Legal Publishing, 2012.

Languages
Spanish and English.

Admission
2006