Alberto Wray

I am an experienced international litigator and arbitrator with a focus on Latin America.

Alberto Wray (Quito, 1946) is an International Counsel in Foley Hoag’s Washington D.C. office. His practice focuses on international litigation and arbitration, particularly representing sovereign States before international arbitration tribunals.

During his over forty years of experience he has intervened as a litigator, as a judge or as an arbitrator in a broad array of cases, ranging from commercial contracts to mining concessions, environmental regulation and construction cases, related to dams and hydraulic infrastructures, airports and roads. Chambers and Partners has recognized him among foreign experts as a “seasoned litigator” with a "very good understanding of Latin American matters.”

He has been an arbitrator in ICSID and ICC cases as well as in numerous domestic arbitrations in Ecuador.

A trial lawyer with extensive experience, Alberto served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice of Ecuador, and was a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Administrative Tribunal. He is also a well-known academic who has published extensively on matters of Ecuadorian and international law.

Related Industries

Sovereign States

Related Practices

Education

Catholic University of Ecuador, JD, 1973

Bar and Court Admissions

BAR ADMISSIONS

Admitted only in Ecuador; not engaged in the practice of law in the District of Columbia

Languages

Spanish

Experience

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION/DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Lead counsel for Ecuador before an ICSID tribunal in a case in which a U.S. power generation conglomerate sought claims for US $75 million based on the contract and a bilateral investment treaty. The tribunal ruled in favor of the State (M.C.I. Power Group L.C. and New Turbine, Inc. v. Republic of Ecuador, ICSID Case No. ARB/03/6).
Lead counsel for Ecuador in a case before the ICSID tribunal in which a multinational corporation claimed US $25 million for an alleged breach of a power generation and sales contract and a bilateral investment treaty. The tribunal ruled partially in favor of the claimant, agreeing to its right to be granted US $5 million in payments (Duke Energy Electroquil Partners & Electroquil S.A v. Republic of Ecuador, ICSID Case No. ARB/04/19).
Lead counsel for Ecuador before an ICSID tribunal in which a power generation company sought damages for US $1.2 billion for an alleged expropriation. The Tribunal agreed to the objections of jurisdiction brought by the State (Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador, Inc v. Republic of Ecuador, ICSID Case No. ARB/05/9).
Lead counsel for Venezuela in an ICSID arbitration brought by a Netherlands Antilles-owned company for an alleged expropiation of mining concessions. The Tribunal agreed to the jurisdictional exceptions raised by the State (Highbury International AVV and Ramstein Trading Inc. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ICSID Case No. ARB/11/1).
Lead counsel for Ecuador before an ICSID annulment proceeding in which a U.S. company sought to have annulled an award that had been issued in favor of the State. The Tribunal ruled in favor of the State (Annulment Proceeding ICSID Case No. ARB/03/6).
Lead counsel for Ecuador before a tribunal under the UNCITRAL Rules, in an ICC-administered dispute brought by a Spanish company under the Spain-Ecuador BIT, related to the installation and setting up of a deposit and transport system for liquefied petroleum gas at a maritime terminal (Case ICC/UNC-161).
Member of the team representing the Dominican Republic in an arbitration under UNCITRAL rules over a waste management concession (Yves Martin Garnier v Dominican Republic (PCA 2022-01)
Member of the team representing the Republic of Peru in a claim related to the construction of a metro system for the city of Lima (Metro de Lima Línea 2 S.A. v. Republic of Peru, ICSID Case No. ARB/17/3)
Member of the team representing Peru in a claim based on a pier concession agreement (APM Terminals Callao S.A. v Republic of Peru, ICSID Case No. ARB/21/28)
Member of the team representing the Republic of Peru in an ICSID arbitration brought by a Spanish company under the Spain-Peru BIT (Telefonica S.A. v Republic of Peru (ICSID Case No. ARB/21/10)
Member of the team representing Peru in an ICSID arbitration related to telecommunications services (Quanta Services Netherlands B.V. v Republic of Peru (ICSID Case No. Arb/21/1)
Member of the team representing Peru in an ICSID arbitration related with a highway concession (Desarrollo Vial de los Andes v Republic of Peru (ICSID Case No. ARB/20/18)
Member of the team representing a Nicaraguan company against a Colombian and Panamanian conglomerate in a commercial arbitration under ICC rules (ICC 2048/JPA and ICC 2050/JPA)
Member of a team representing El Salvador in a claim related with the termination of a geothermal energy Project (Enel Green Power S.p.A. v. Republic of El Salvador, ICSID Case No. ARB/13/18)
Member of a team that represented Venezuela in several arbitrations under the ICSID Additional Facility Agreement Rules related with mining concessions (Vannessa Ventures Ltd. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/04/6). (Gold Reserve. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/09/1). (Crystallex International Corporation v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/11/2). (Rusoro Mining Ltd. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/12/5)
Member of Ecuador’s representation in an UNCITRAL arbitration for an alleged denial of justice (Merck Sharpe & Dohme (I.A.) Corporation v. Republic of Ecuador, UNCITRAL, PCA)
Member of Ecuador’s representation in an arbitration for an alleged expropriation arising from the application of a law regulating State participation in windfall oil profits resulting from an unforeseen rise in prices (Murphy Exploration & Production Company - International v. Republic of Ecuador, UNCITRAL, PCA Case No. AA434)
Member of El Salvador’s representation in a claim related with the termination of a mining concession (Pac Rim Cayman LLC v. Republic of El Salvador, ICSID Case No. ARB/09/12).

Publications

BOOKS

Derecho Procesal Constitucional (Constitutional Procedural Law), Editorial del Colegio de Jurisprudencia de la Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Projusticia, Quito 2002. (Original in Spanish)
El pensamiento jurídico ecuatoriano (Ecuadorian Legal Thinking), Biblioteca Básica del Pensamiento Ecuatoriano, Corporación Editora Nacional, Quito, 1998. (Original in Spanish)
Diagnóstico sobre el estado de la enseñanza del Derecho en el Ecuador (Assessment of the Situation of Legal Education in Ecuador), Projusticia, Quito, 1999. (Original in Spanish)
La observancia de la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño en la Administración de Justicia (The Observance of the Convention on Children’s Rights in the Administration of Justice), Projusticia, UNICEF, Quito, 1998. (Original in Spanish)
El menor ante la ley (The Minor before the Law), National Editorial Corporation, Quito, 1991, 492 pages. (Original in Spanish)
Introducción al análisis jurídico: casos y materiales de enseñanza (Introduction to Legal Analysis: Cases and Materials), 3 volumes, PUCE, 1976. (Original in Spanish)

ARTICLES

Arbitraje internacional y soberanía del Estado: notas críticas a la nueva normativa constitucional (International Arbitration and State Sovereignty: Critical Notes on the New Constitutional Rules), International Arbitration and Administrative Law Seminar, Ecuador Office of the Attorney General, Quito, December 2008. (Original in Spanish)
Los efectos jurídicos de la notificación del Ecuador al CIADI (The legal effects of Ecuador giving notice to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)), Seminar on International Commercial and Investment Arbitration, Inter-American Commission on Commercial Arbitration, Quito, June 2008. (Original in Spanish)
El Ecuador y el arbitraje del CIADI (Ecuador and ICSID Arbitration), Quito, 2007. (Original in Spanish)
La solución de controversias entre empresas de Estados Unidos y el Estado o ciudadanos ecuatorianos (Dispute Resolution between U.S. Corporations and the State or Citizens of Ecuador), Foreign Relations Ministry, Quito, January 2006. (Original in Spanish)
Justicia Indígena: Sus Límites Constitucionales en "Iuris Dictio" (Indigenous Justice: Its Constitutional Limits in “Iuris Dictio”), Magazine of the USFQ School of Jurisprudence, No. 6, Quito, August 2002. (Original in Spanish)
Los principios constitucionales del Proceso Penal, en "Iuris Dictio" (The Constitutional Principles of the Penal Process, in “Iuris Dictio”), Magazine of the USFQ School of Jurisprudence, No. 3, Quito, April 2000. (Original in Spanish)
El debido proceso en la Constitución, en "Iuris Dictio" (Due Process in the Constitution, in “Iuris Dictio”), Magazine of the USFQ School of Jurisprudence, No. 1, Quito, January 2000. (Original in Spanish)
La estructura del orden jurídico, el control de la constitucionalidad y la administración de justicia (The Structure of the Legal System, Constitutionality Control and Justice Administration), FESO, Quito, 1998. (Original in Spanish)
Derecho, costumbre y comunidad, en "Derechos Humanos y Servicios Legales en el campo" (Law, Customs, and Community, in “Human Rights and Legal Services in the Rural Areas”), Andean Commission of Jurists, Lima, 1987 and in the Annual Magazine of the School of Law Association, Ruptura, No. 31, Ed. Unapsa, Quito, 1987. (Original in Spanish)
El Código de Procedimiento Penal: Problemas de Estructura y Contenido, en La Evaluación del Sistema Procesal Penal en el Ecuador (The Criminal Procedure Code: Problems of Structure and Content, in The Evaluation of Ecuador’s Criminal Procedure), Fundación Esquel – USAID, Quito, 2003. (Original in Spanish)
Legislación vigente para el sector privado y sin fines de lucro en Ecuador, en "Marco Regulador de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en Sudamérica", (Current Legislation for the Private and the Not-for-Profit Sectors in Ecuador, in “Regulatory Framework of the Organizations of the Civil Society in South America”), IDB-UNDP, Washington, 1997. (Original in Spanish)
Modernidad y tradición en el Pensamiento Jurídico del Siglo XIX (Modernity and tradition in the Legal Thinking of the XIX Century), in “Essays in Homage of Julio Tobar Donoso”, PUCE, Quito, 1995. (Original in Spanish)
El sistema jurídico ecuatoriano, en "Nueva Historia del Ecuador" (The Ecuadorian Legal System, in “New History of Ecuador”), Volume 13, Enrique Ayala Mora, Editorial Grijalbo, Quito, 1995. (Original in Spanish)
Los estudios de Derecho Romano en la Universidad Quiteña del siglo XVIII (Roman Law Studies at the University of Quito) in the XVIII Century, in Ruptura, the Annual Magazine of the School of Law Association, No. 32, PUCE, Quito, 1988, pp. 85-91. (Original in Spanish)
El régimen jurídico laboral antes de la expedición del Código del Trabajo (The Legal Labor System as it relates to the Issuance of the Labor Code), Magazine of the Catholic University of Ecuador, No. 40, pp. 327-360. (Original in Spanish)
La organización y el funcionamiento de la Administración Pública: 1883 - 1892 (The Public Administration’s Organization and Operation: 1883-1892), Department of History, PUCE, Quito, 1981, 120 pages. (Original in Spanish)
El derecho y la fundación del Estado: notas para una interpretación histórica de la Constitución de 1830 (The Law and the Establishment of the State: Notes for a Historical Interpretation of the 1830 Constitution), in “Cultura”, No. 6, Quito, 1980. (Original in Spanish)