In an event marking the first time a woman has reached the highest academic level in an area of Public Law, Uruguay’s Universidad de la República appointed the Director of FERRERE’s Administrative and Regulatory Law team Cristina Vázquez as Chaired Professor (Level 5) of Administrative Law. Cristina Vazquez is also Director of the Master’s Program in Economic Administrative Law at Universidad de Montevideo (UM).
In her professional activity at FERRERE, Vázquez has specialized in issues of government contracting, energy and infrastructure, regulation, and Public Law litigation. Her work (in both Uruguay and the other jurisdictions where the firm operates) has focused on financing of energy and infrastructure projects, negotiation of PPAs, advice to multilateral credit institutions, international banks and infrastructure funds, regulatory frameworks for public utilities, private initiatives for public works concessions in transportation infrastructures, Public Law litigation on regulation of services and concessions, public health, energy and others, and advice to the Government on institutional design of new agencies, regulatory framework organization and modernization, and processes for rate definition, among others.
Vázquez also has vast previous public service experience. Before joining FERRERE she was President of the Energy and Water Services Unit –URSEA- (2005-2010), Director of the same regulatory agency (2001-2004), legal advisor to the Office of the President of Uruguay (1992-2000), and legal advisor to the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (1981-1992).
In 2015 she gave talks in Uruguay and abroad. Standing out among them was her participation in the Sixth World Forum on Energy Regulation held in Istanbul (a conference bringing together energy regulation experts from around the globe) and the Seminar “Toward a new conceptualization of Government and Regulation of Government Corporations: contributions to the debate in Latin America.” Her latest book, Volume II of Procedimientos administrativos was published this past December by La Ley Thomson Reuters, and followed the successful publication of the book Derecho de la Energía, which had the participation of dozens of public and private sector experts.
Andrés Cerisola, FERRERE’s managing partner, said: “FERRERE is proud of the historic appointment of Cristina Vázquez as the first woman to be designated as chaired professor in a Public Law area at Universidad de la República. It crowns an impressive academic career encompassing Uruguay’s three main law schools. Cristina is an extraordinary professional. Her assets do not stop at a nonpareil knowledge of the Government and its functioning, deriving from the sum of her experience in top level public service posts and her academic production on the subject. In the years she has been leading FERRERE’s Regulatory and Administrative Law group she has gone on to demonstrate her practical vision and business-minded approach, making her the cornerstone of complex negotiations on projects considered highly sensitive in economic, political and regulatory terms. Her ability to build consensuses and solutions starting from very disparate stances, her formidable intelligence, her reputation for integrity, and a rare combination of firmness and charisma continue to distinguish her as an incredible negotiator.”
Cristina Vazquez has published 14 books on Administrative Law subjects:
1.Derecho de la Energía [Energy Law]
2.Marco Regulatorio del Sector Eléctrico en Uruguay [Regulatory Framework of the Energy Sector in Uruguay]
3.El Régimen de Participación Público-Privada – PPP [Public-Private Participation Regime]
4.Reglamentación de la Ley de Contratos de PPP [Regulation of the PPP Contracts Law]
5.La Concesión de Obra Pública en el Derecho Uruguayo [Public Works Concessions under Uruguayan Law]
6.Modalidades de Ejecución de la Obra Pública [Public Works Execution]
7.Contratación de Obra Pública [Public Works Contracting]
8.El Registro Nacional de Empresas de Obra Pública [The National Registry of Public Works Companies]
9.Procedimientos Administrativos, Tomo I (Texto del Decreto Nº 500/991 Anotado y Comentado) [Administrative Procedures, Vol. I (Text of Decree No. 500/991 Annotated and Commented)]
10.Procedimientos Administrativos, Tomo II (Texto del TOCAF Anotado y Comentado) [Administrative Procedures, Volume II (Text of Financial Administration and Accounting Code, Annotated and Commented)]
11.La Reforma Constitucional de 1997 [The 1997 Constitutional Reform]
12.Manual de Derecho de la Función Pública [Public Service Law Manual]
13.La Promoción de la Calidad en la Educación Superior [The Promotion of Quality in Higher Education]
14.Contribuciones para La Creación de un Sistema de Promoción de la Calidad de la Educación Superior en Uruguay [Contributions for Creation of a Quality Promotion System in Higher Education in Uruguay]