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Edesio Carrasco

Partner+56 2 2385 0000

His practice primarily focuses on environmental matters and sectoral authorizations, energy, land use, and the development of industrial projects. He also concentrates on dispute resolution and defending his clients before ordinary and special courts in contentious-administrative matters.Before founding Carrasco Benítez, he served as Regional Director of the Environmental Assessment Agency and Head of the Litigation Unit and Prosecutor for the same entity until early 2014. Previously, he worked at the Ministry of the Environment and at Allende Bascuñán & Cía. Ltda.In 2010, he worked as a foreign attorney in the energy group at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, in Washington D.C., United States.

Awards and Recognition
He has been consistently ranked since 2017 in Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Best Lawyers, and Leaders League.

Education

  • Law, School of Law, Universidad Católica de Chile (2006).
  • LL.M., School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, USA (2010), Chilean Scholarship – Conicyt.
  • S.J.D., Universitat de Barcelona, Spain (2024).

Activities and Memberships

  • Lecturer and editor of Revista de Derecho Aplicado LLM UC at the School of Law, Universidad Católica de Chile (2012–present).
  • Graduate lecturer at the School of Law, Universidad del Desarrollo (2012–present).
  • Visiting Scholar, School of Law, Duke University, North Carolina, USA (2023–2024).
  • Member of the Legal Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law.

Publications
He is the author and co-author of more than fifty articles and publications in specialized journals and media. In addition, he has published the following books:

  • Judges as Environmental Regulators: How the Supreme Court Shaped the Environmental Assessment and Oversight (1994–2024) (Ediciones Der), 2025.
  • Urban Wetlands: Regulation, Implementation, and Jurisprudence (Ediciones Der), 2023.
  • The Right to Live in a Pollution-Free Environment: Perspectives, Evolution, and Jurisprudential Standards (Ediciones DER), 2020.
  • Environmental Impact Assessment System: Analysis and Resolution of Practical Cases (Ediciones DER), 2018.
  • The Legal Framework of Nuclear Energy in Chile (Thomson Reuter – Legal Publishing), 2013.

Languages
Spanish and English.

Admission
2007