Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga, coordinator of the firm’s international dispute resolution practice in Florida and Latin America, focuses on and has significant experience in international litigation and transnational arbitration including complex jurisdictional disputes concerning common law as well as the Brussels and Lugano Conventions, sovereign immunity issues, act of state contentions, claims under federal and state security and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) laws, corporate governance contests, franchise disputes, asset tracing and cross-border interim relief. He has represented a number of sovereignties together with geopolitical subdivisions and state instrumentalities.

His more notable representations include lead US counsel on behalf of the Republic of Chile in the case against former Chilean President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Senator pour vie Augusto Pinochet. He also served as lead counsel for the Republic of Chile, the Ministry of Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), and served as counsel in a landmark 2003 case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He also has represented the Republic of Argentina, the Republic of Guatemala, the Republic of El Salvador, Brazil and instrumentalities of the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Ecuador. He has served as an arbitrator in International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and International Center for Settlement of International Dispute (ICSID) proceedings.  Mr. Martinez-Fraga has been a guest lecturer at the International Legal Institution of the China Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, where he has lectured on both private and public international law  as to international commercial arbitration and international investment arbitration.  The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is the highest academic research organization in the fields of philosophy and social sciences as well as national center for comprehensive studies in the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Martinez-Fraga is an arbitrator for the Justice Academy of Turkey.

Prior to joining Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P., Mr. Martinez-Fraga practiced with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, P.A. for twenty years (Sept. 1987-Sept. 2007) where he was a Principal Shareholder and founder and Chair  of the firm’s International Litigation and Arbitration Department as well as of the practice group in this discipline. 

In 2007 he was accepted as of counsel to represent defendants or victims at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Mr. Martinez-Fraga is an associate member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law. Mr. Martinez-Fraga has served on numerous professional organizations including the American Law Institute (ALI) since 1999.

He is a prolific author and lecturer on topics concerning international litigation and arbitration, jurisprudence and private procedural international law. Mr. Martinez-Fraga has lectured at more than twenty law schools throughout Europe and Latin America, and has written more than 50 peer-reviewed articles.

Publications include The American Influence on International Commercial Arbitration Doctrinal Developments and Discovery Methods (hardcover ISBN: 9780521765886), Cambridge University Press (2009), Author; “Aplicación e invalidacion del Título 28 del Código de Estados Unidos,” sección 1782, presentación de pruebas en arbitraje comercial internacional; ¿pueden la Convencion de Nueva York y la Doctrina de “Manifesta indiferencia de la ley” Ayudar o Perjudiciar?, Arbitraje Comercial Y Arbitraje de Inversión, p. 175, Magna Ediciones, Lima, Perú (April 2009), Author; “La Obtención y Revelacion de Documentos e Información en el Proceso Civil Estadounidense (Discovery) y su Influencia en La Convergencia de Culturas Juridícas en el Arbitraje Internacional,” Revista Perúana de Arbitraje, No. 8 (2009), Author; “El Arbitraje Internacional Como Herramienta para La Globalización Jurídica,” Athina, Revista de Los Alumnos de La Universidad de Perú, No. 5, p. 253, 2009, published interview; Co-author with Dr. Prof. Rafael Domingo Olsé, “Globalization and Developments in the Apportionment of Jurisdiction Between Arbitrators and Courts Concerning International Commercial Arbitration,” Arbitraje, Revista de arbitraje comercial y de inversiones Vol. II, nº I pp. 139-165 (2009); “The Institution of Arbitration and U.S. Institutional Arbitration: The Development of a De Facto Adjudicative System Without Sovereign, Courts, or Legislators,” Istanbul Conference on International Dispute Resolution: A Global Perspective, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (2008); Contributing author, preface and chapter; “Análisis de la Institución de Arbitraje y del Arbitraje Institucional en Estados Unidos: De la Visión Kelseniana al Desarrollo de facto de un Sistema de Adjudicación sin Soberano,” ATHINA, Revista de Derecho de los Alumnos de la Universidad de Lima, 6ta Edición (2009), Author; Estudio de los Efectos de la Convención de Nueva York y la Doctrina de “Manifiesta Indiferencia de la Ley” Sobre El Arbitraje Internacional: Análisis de Dos Paradigmas Afirmativos y Defensivos,” Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional Privado, t. VIII, pp. 55-96 (2008), Author; “La Obtención y Revelación de Documentos e Informacion en el Proceso Civil Estadounidense (“Discovery”) y su Influencia en la Convergencia de Culturas Jurídicas en el Arbitraje Internacional,” Revista Perúana de Arbitraje, Nº 08 (2008), Author; “El Arbitraje Internacional como Herramienta para la Globalización Jurídica,” Universidad de Lima, Revista Athina No. 5 (2008), Author; “Defining Judicial Limitation on Intervention in International Commercial Arbitration and Apportionment of Jurisdiction: The Demise, or Is It, or Party-Autonomy in Favor of the Federal Arbitration Act in Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc.,” Spain Arbitration Review, Revista del Club Español de Arbitraje, (Nº2/2008), Author; International Commercial Arbitration: United States Doctrinal Developments and American Style Discovery, prologue by Professor Michael H. Graham (hardcover ISBN 978-84-8355-527-9) (2008) Thomson/Aranzadi International, translated into Mandarin by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, reviewed by Professor Elena Artuch Iriberril, Professor of Private International Law, Universidad Complutense Madrid appearing in Arbitraje Revista de Arbitraje Comercial y de Inversiones, Vol. 2, p. 630, 2008), reviewed by Global Arbitration Review (May 19, 2008) and Revista Brasileira de Arbitragem, Sumario Revista No. 20, 2009; reviewed in Nº 4 Spain Arbitration Review (2009); cited in “Redefining International Arbitration Proceeding Located in the United States”, Nº 4 Spain Arbitration Review (2009), Author; The New Role of Comity in Private Procedural International Law, The Global Law Collection, prologue by C. Ryan Reetz (soft cover ISBN 978-84-8355-167-7), Thomson/Aranzadi (2007) cited in Tratado del Arbitraje Comercial en América Latina by José Carlos Fernandez-Rozas, Iustel, first edition, 2008; “El Arbitraje y el Proceso Global: La Justicia Norteamericana Abre Las Puertas a Los Tribunals Extranjeros,” La Gaceta (May 21, 2007), Author; “Amendments to the New York Convention and Convergence of European Civil Law and U.S. Common Law;” Modern Commercial Arbitration, Revista de Arbitrajen e Mediacro (October-December 2006), Author; “Síntesis de Culturas Juridícas en la Divulgación y toma de Pruebas en el Derecho Privado Procesal del Arbitraje Internacional. ¿Nos Queda Remedio?,” prologue by Ramón Mullerat, Anuario de la Facultad de Derecho 2007 de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Author; “On the 50th Anniversary of the New York Convention, Revisiting Annulment and Vacatur through the Prism of In Re Chromalloy, Baker Marine, and Termorio,” published by Universidad Complutense Madrid, Revista de Arbitraje y de Inversiones; article also appears in Revista Brasileira de Arbitragem nº 18/08 (2008), Author; Hacia La Unificación del Derecho Procesal Internacional (softcover ISBN 84-9767-726-9) (2006) Thomson/Aranzadi.; International Commercial Arbitration: A Comparative Survey, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (2007), Co-editor and contributing author; “Doctrinal Development in United States Arbitration: A Metamorphosis of Paradigms Beyond Gregor Samsa’s Imagination,” University of Miami School of Law International and Comparative Law Review, Vol. 15, Issue 2: Fall 2007, Author; “Examining the Codification of History and Search for First Principles in Professor Alejandro Guzmán Brito's History of the Codification of Civil Law in Iberoamerica,” University of Miami School of Law Inter-American Law Review, Volume 39, Number 3: Spring 2008, Co-editor and contributing author, Co-author with Dr. Prof. Rafael Domingo Olsé, “Globalization and Developments in the Apportionment of Jurisdiction between Arbitrators and Courts Concerning International Commercial Arbitration,” Journal of International Business and Law (JIBL), Hosftra University, 8 J. Int'l Bus. & L. 63 (2009).

Mr. Martinez-Fraga is the author of four books on private and public procedural international law, and the co-editor and a contributing author on a fifth book on international arbitration. His work International Commercial Arbitration: United States Doctrinal Developers and American Style Discovery has been translated into Mandarin by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The book was the subject of a book review by Professor Elena Artuch Iriberril, Professor of Private International Law, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, appearing in Arbitraje Revista de Arbitraje Comercial y de Inversiones, Vo. 2, P. 630 (2008) and Global Arbitration Review, May 19, 2008. The book also was reviewed by Revista Brasileira de Arbitragem, Sumario Revista No. 20, and by Thomson-Aranzadi (2008), 511 pgs.

Mr. Martinez-Fraga is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law. He is a full visiting professor of International Litigation and Arbitration of the Global Law Program of the University of Navarra School of Law and a member of the Academic Council of the Garrigues Endowed Chair for the Universidad de Navarra. He was also named an honorary professor of the Universidad de San Ignacio de Loyola in Lima, Perú. Mr. Martinez-Fraga serves as president of the Global Dispute Resolution Center of the Maiestas Foundation with venues in Pamplona, Spain and Beijing, China. He holds a Magister (Masters) Degree in private and public international law from the Universidad Complutense Madrid. His exposure to civil code judicial training provides him with an additional sensitivity to doctrines from different legal systems in the representation of non-common law natural persons, juridic persons and sovereigns in those jurisdictions. He is listed as arbitrator in the roster for the Cámara de Comercio Americana del Perú (AmCham Perú).

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Representative Experience

• Representing the Consejo de Defensa del Estado de la República de Chile in a pre-action 28 U.S.C. 1782 proceeding to solicit discovery in aid of criminal cases filed in Chile against former President Augusto Pinochet.
• Prevailing successfully on summary judgment in seven of eight claims filed on behalf of 340 Canadian citizens and three corporate entities against a financial service institution seeking, in part, rescission of a US$28 million transaction.
• Representing successfully an incarcerated journalist and political dissident and activist before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
• Defending successfully a criminal and civil complaint filed in Bari, Italy, against an individual charged with a transnational racketeering scheme concerning the illicit trafficking of merchandise and tax fraud in Germany, Holland, Montenegro and Italy.
• Representing a leading provider of natural gas services and the largest pipeline company in North America in litigation resulting from different proceedings conducted in the Dominican Republic and a related ICC arbitration.
• Defending successfully an entity in an AAA arbitration and prevailing on counterclaim that client filed against claimant in that proceeding.
• Representing a Guatemala-owned airline in a Petition for Remission and Mitigation of Penalty.
• Representing a joint venture in an AAA international arbitration dispute over greenfield manufacturing plants in Argentina and Colombia, and associated South American distribution rights.
• Obtaining a multimillion-dollar settlement as a defender/counter-plaintiff in a RICO proceeding.
• Obtaining an award of more than US$1 million against a major financial institution on a motion for judgment on the pleadings in federal court without oral argument.
• Representing successfully financial institutions in multimillion-dollar liability actions.
• Representing successfully an individual plaintiff in a multimillion-dollar settlement against one of the largest providers of wireless telephone and communications services.
• Defending successfully six interrelated cases, each alleging multimillion-dollar claims, filed in Spain, the British Virgin Islands, Delaware, Puerto Rico and Florida.
• Providing counsel to a Fortune 100 company in a dispute over the interest in the income generated in the largest private investment to date in El Salvador.