Victor Manuel is a Colombian lawyer with a strong background in both private and public international law, international commercial and investment arbitration, fiduciary law, and administrative law. He has worked in the international legal affairs offices of state entities in Colombia, handling matters related to public and private contracting, legal defense of companies, and providing legal support in international affairs.

He has served as a negotiating delegate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia in trade and justice treaty negotiations. Additionally, he has been a representative expert delegate for the Republic of Colombia in sessions of Working Group II Arbitration and Conciliation and Working Group III Online Dispute Resolution of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Victor Manuel is the director of the Inter-American Institute of Mediation and Arbitration (IIADR), an arbitrator, mediator, and amiable compositeur at the Arbitration Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, and a former president of the Colombian Academy of International Law (ACCOLDI).

He is also a professor in the Fundamentals and Principles of Private and Economic International Law at the University of Rosario and the Central University, and in the module of international arbitration in the Master's in Private Economic Law at the National University of Colombia.

Moreover, he acts as an arbitrator, conciliator, and amiable compositeur at the Arbitration and Conciliation Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce.

Representative Experience

- Advisor to an investor in an ICSID arbitration against the Co-operative Republic of Guyana regarding the annulment of a car parking concession contract (Smart City Solutions Holdings Inc. v. Co-operative Republic of Guyana, ICSID Case No. ARB/21/64).

- Representation of a Panamanian company in a ICC arbitration based in Paris against a Latin American State and a state entity in connection with a construction and operation contract for a power plant. Amount exceeding USD 80 million.

- Representation of a consortium of French and Panamanian companies in a ICC arbitration in Madrid against the municipality of a Latin American State and a state entity in a dispute arising from a major infrastructure project.

- Drafting memoranda defending the constitutionality of the treaty approval laws before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Colombia.