Santiago Cruz

Practice Areas

Dispute Resolution

Career

Partner at PPU expert in Dispute Resolution. His professional practice focuses on international and domestic arbitration, litigation, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Santiago has a high specialization in constitutional actions and has experience in sectors such as engineering and construction, oil and gas, mining, sales and distribution of goods, technology, and social networks, among others. Additionally, he is a professor of international arbitration at Universidad Javeriana. He has participated in commercial arbitrations as counsel, arbitrator, and secretary, under the rules of various arbitration institutions, including the ICC and the Arbitration and Conciliation Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce.

He is an arbitrator for the Arbitration Centers of the Superintendency of Companies and the Chambers of Commerce of Cali and Bucaramanga, as well as the secretary of the Arbitration Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce. Santiago has been recognized by Chambers & Partners as an “Associate to Watch” continuously since 2022. In 2024, he was awarded the “Rising Star of the Year – Dispute Resolution Litigation” by Legal 500 and is again nominated for the “Leading Associate of the Year 2025” category by the same publication. He has also been recognized by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA) as an “Approved Litigation Private Practitioner.”

Professional Memberships

Youth Arbitration Network of the Arbitration and Conciliation Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce

Publications

“Class Arbitration: Here to stay? The Potential Objections Against Recognition and Enforcement of Class Arbitral Awards Under the New York Convention”, Spain Arbitration Review (2017)

“Absolute sovereign immunity? The Colombian Supreme Court’s denial of recognition…” (2025)

Personal

Santiago has a Law Degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (2009). He has a Postgraduate Degree in Constitutional Law from Universidad del Rosario (2012) and an LL.M. (with honors) from Queen Mary University of London (2015). He also has a Specialized Diploma in Training for Administrative Secretaries of Arbitral Tribunals (2020) and another in Amicable Composition (2023) both from the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota.

Work Highlights

-Counsel to Oxígenos de Colombia Ltda., member of the Linde Group, arguably the largest group in the medical gases business worldwide. We counseled the client in a dispute derived from a contract to provide transportation to support our client’s logistical operation in distributing its goods in several cities in Colombia. Our client terminated the agreement upon the contractor’s serious breach of its obligations.

-Counsel to USG Corporation in a judicial proceeding derived from a distribution agreement to sell the client’s products in Colombia. Claimant alleged that the contract entered into by the parties was a commercial agency agreement and that our client unilaterally terminated it without fair cause. Consequently, claimant claimed payment of commercial severance, equitable indemnification and compensation of damages. Our client counterclaimed claiming the payment of owed invoices for the sales of products.

Languages Spoken

Spanish and English

Awards