After more than two decades of professional practice as a lawyer, Javier has successfully traversed different fields of law, nourishing a knowledge of them and achieving what is today a comprehensive overview that gives him extraordinary criteria for addressing the problems and solutions to be applied in each particular case.
As founding partner of his own law firm, since 1997 he has been the external trust lawyer of choice for a state bank, in charge of the bank’s lawsuits and its real estate transactions for the trust. Javier is highly recognized in the field of real estate law, which he practices from his offices in the central valley, Nosara, and Nicaragua. He has been personally awarded by the Houston, Texas-based U.S. Title Insurance Company, Stewart Title, as the lawyer with the highest volume of real estate transactions in Costa Rica during a five-year period. During this same period, Javier’s firm was recognized by another leading company, Chicago Title, as one of the country’s top 25 real estate law firms. That period of intense learning left Javier with firmly-rooted lessons regarding the hits and misses of the era, making him an acknowledged expert in the prevention of real estate fraud and avoidable situations and thus providing investors with a better perspective in order to help them reach a final decision on purchasing a property or a property-related business. In an understanding that modern pre-trial negotiating tools are the quickest way to solve disputes, Javier has applied them to the conflicts arising as a consequence of the booming economy.
In 2006 and 2007, he attended several seminars on Harvard Tools of Negotiation at Harvard University in Cambridge to provide the theoretical foundation for his experience in the matter. In addition, he has been invited to talk in the U.S. at the Florida Coastal University of Law in Jacksonville, Florida, on the topic of real estate transactions and commercial law in Costa Rica. More recently, as guest speaker at the International Congress on the Prevention of Fraud and Financial Crimes held in November 2016 in Miami, Florida and hosted by the Foundation for the Study of Crime and Money Laundering (FELADE), lecturing on the criminal responsibility of legal entities and compliance regulations.
Academically, Javier graduated with honors from the Universidad de las Americas, obtaining his Master’s Degree in Criminal Science. He has also received Specialist Degrees in Constitutional Justice and Constitutional Guarantees in the Criminal Procedure from the UCLM (Universidad de Castilla y La Mancha) in Toledo, Spain. Additionally, completed his Doctorate studies in Criminal Law from the Escuela Libre de Derecho -thesis in progress-, and a Master’s Degree in Economic Criminal Law from the Universidad de Granada in Spain
Other Studies courses and Seminars:
• Seminar in Negotiation University Consortium (Tufts University, Harvard Law School and MIT) in Boston Mass (2005).
• The theory and tools of negotiation of Harvard CMI International at Cambridge, Mass Oct 2006 (Held at Harvard Faculty of Education).
• Criminal Law in Business and Economics Diploma by University of Sevilla Spain (Feb 2013).
Awards
• Chicago Title Membership CCTA Attorney Alliance Group, Star member of the year 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 by Stewart Tile for outstanding performance in Real Estate Legal transactions.
Practice
Admitted Bar of Attorneys of Costa Rica. Main Areas of Practice: Corporate Law, Criminal Law Civil Law, Immigration Law, Negotiation, Contracts and Real Estate Law.
Languages
English and Spanish. University of Cambridge, UK National Qualifications Network, International Legal English, Council of Europe Level B plus (July 2012); British Institute (International House in San Jose), Advanced Level degree Examinations of Cambridge Essol (San Jose, Jan through June 2012).