SLBZ Abogados

Managing Partner:

Senior Partner:

Executive Partner & Legal Counsel:

Number of Partners:

Number of Other Fee-Earners:

International Offices:

SLBZ Abogados is a boutique Chilean law firm recognised for its high-end civil, commercial, competition, and dispute resolution practice. Founded by leading litigators with extensive experience in complex, high-profile cases, the firm has built a reputation for delivering strategic, rigorous, and results-oriented legal counsel. Throughout its development, SLBZ has combined traditional litigation expertise with a modern, client-focused approach, serving both domestic and international clients across a wide spectrum of industries. The firm is distinguished by its personalised partner involvement, technical depth, and its ability to handle disputes of significant complexity and economic relevance.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

The litigation team advises and represents clients in civil and commercial disputes, including contractual liability, construction claims, infrastructure-related litigation, corporate conflicts, and tort cases. The practice is recognised for its ability to manage matters involving complex factual records, expert evidence, and high-value damages claims, as well as for its strategic approach to appellate advocacy and the handling of sophisticated procedural issues. The team also plays a key role in leading firm-wide strategic litigation, coordinating input from regulatory, environmental, competition, criminal, and corporate specialists to design integrated dispute-resolution strategies in high-stakes matters. Its experience extends to administrative litigation before sectoral regulators and specialised tribunals, together with a consolidated practice in mediation and negotiation, where it assists clients in achieving commercially effective outcomes while mitigating risk.

Key Partners: Jorge Schenke, Ricardo Brancoli, Carolina Coppo, Nicolás Prado

Arbitration

The arbitration practice specialises in commercial and construction arbitration, acting before leading Chilean and international arbitration centres. The team advises on disputes related to engineering projects, EPC contracts, energy, joint ventures, and shareholder conflicts. The firm stands out for its technical knowledge of complex projects and its experience working with cross-border disputes and expert-heavy cases.

Key Partners: Jorge Schenke, Ricardo Brancoli, Carolina Coppo, Nicolás Prado

Competition / Antitrust

The antitrust team provides strategic advice on investigations, merger control proceedings, compliance, and contentious matters before the Competition Tribunal. The practice includes former high-level authorities in the field and is recognised for its technical sophistication and deep market knowledge. The firm has advised clients across sectors such as energy, retail, financial services, transport, and digital markets.

Key Partners: Enrique Vergara

Compliance & Competition Compliance

SLBZ Abogados has a well-established and specialised compliance practice, focused on the design, implementation, and monitoring of corporate compliance systems that meet Chilean regulatory standards and align with international best practices. The team advises companies on the development of internal policies, risk-assessment frameworks, contractual and procedural reviews, integrity protocols, and crime-prevention programmes compliant with Law 20.393.

Key Partners: Enrique Vergara, Francisco Schenke

Environmental Litigation

The environmental litigation practice focuses on contentious matters arising from Chile’s environmental and sectoral regulatory regimes. The team represents companies and project developers in proceedings related to environmental permits, administrative sanctions, compliance with regulatory obligations, and challenges connected to environmental impact assessments. The practice also handles disputes before Environmental Courts and administrative authorities, providing strategic representation in matters affecting infrastructure, energy, natural resources, and industrial operations.

Key Partners: Ricardo Brancoli, Nicolás Prado

Regulatory

The regulatory practice provides comprehensive advice on administrative law and sector-specific regulation across industries such as energy, infrastructure, transport, and natural resources. The team assists clients in navigating regulatory frameworks, obtaining permits and approvals, preparing administrative filings, responding to supervisory bodies, and participating in sanctioning proceedings. The practice also advises on public-law risks affecting project development, market entry, compliance obligations, and interactions with government agencies.

Key Partners: Hipolito Zañartu, Francisco Charlin

Natural Resources, Mining & Water Law

The natural resources practice advises clients on legal and regulatory issues in the mining, water, and broader natural resource sectors. The team assists with the constitution, transfer, and defence of mining concessions; surface-rights negotiations; easements; due diligence for project development; and compliance with sectoral authorities. The practice also handles disputes involving mining property, concession rights, and administrative decisions affecting extractive operations. In water law, the team provides guidance on the acquisition, regularisation, and protection of water rights, including administrative proceedings, interactions with the Dirección General de Aguas (DGA), and judicial challenges. The practice supports companies developing projects that require coordinated management of water rights, land-use obligations, environmental compliance, and sector-specific regulatory requirements.

Key Partners: Hipolito Zañartu, Francisco Charlin

Criminal Law / White-Collar Defense

The criminal practice focuses on complex white-collar matters, corporate crime, and high-impact investigations. The team provides strategic representation in criminal litigation, advises on interactions with prosecutorial authorities, and supports clients facing allegations of fraud, bribery, market offences, and other economic crimes. Its work also includes preventive guidance for companies exposed to potential criminal risk and coordination of defence strategies across related civil, regulatory, and administrative fronts.

Key Partners: Milenka Altamirano

SLBZ Abogados regularly advises foreign clients and participates in cross-border disputes involving international contractors, investors, and corporate groups. Recent matters include complex construction-related arbitrations with foreign experts, multi-jurisdictional shareholder disputes, and litigation with parallel proceedings abroad. The firm also maintains an active network with international law firms and dispute resolution practitioners.