Gabriel Cavazos Villanueva

Senior Advisor

Contact


Direct: +52.81.2046.6558
Mobile: +52.1.81.1801.3874
gcavazos@monarch-global.com
Mexico City / Monterrey
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Professional Experience


Gabriel Cavazos Villanueva is a senior advisor to Monarch splitting his time between Mexico City and Monterrey. He has extensive experience in the public sector and academia, as well as in international arbitration. His background includes government service, government relations, and international trade and investment arbitration.

Dr. Cavazos has worked in all three branches of the Mexican government and in the Legislative Power of Mexico. He has been an advisor with the Mexican Senate and has had several roles with the State of Nuevo León including head legal counsel at the Secretariat of Economic Development.

In academia, Dr. Cavazos worked with the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) from 1997 to 2018 where he was a professor and dean. He was the Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Humanities of the School of Business, Social Sciences and Humanities, in charge of the undergraduate academic Departments of Law, Philosophy and Ethics, International Relations and Political Science, Communication and Journalism, Humanities, and Modern Languages (2014-2016). From March 2017 to May 2018, he acted as Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Government for the Northern Region.

Dr. Cavazos is a legal counsel in international law and foreign investment and has published numerous pieces related to the Mexican experience on topics in these areas. He has been retained as an expert witness in cases dealing with international and Mexican law in civil and criminal trials in the United States. Dr. Cavazos was appointed by the governments of Mexico and the United States as a panelist in NAFTA Chapter 19 dispute settlement arbitration for anti-dumping and countervailing duty matters, in which he has ruled on different controversies between Canada and the U.S. and Mexico and the U.S. He has participated, with a group of Mexican jurists, as amicus curiae in a case before the United States Supreme Court. Dr. Cavazos is also the legal counsel for the Council for the Development of the Software Industry in the State of Nuevo León. Finally, he has participated as an arbitrator in the Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot) competitions in Boston (2012), Frankfurt (2013), Los Angeles (2014), London (2015), and Buenos Aires (2016).

Education


Tulane University, Ph.D., International and Comparative Law, 2008

Tulane University, Master of Laws, with distinction and specialization in International and Comparative Law, 2001

University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Master of Laws with specialization in International Economic Law, 1997

National Institute of Public Administration, Diploma in Public Administration, 1993

Universidad Regiomontana, Attorney at Law undergraduate degree, 1988

News & Insights


29 Jun 2021 | Publications

Cannabis in Mexico Report – June 2021

On June 28, 2021, the Supreme Court of Mexico (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación or SCJN) decided by a vote of 8 to 3 to issue the outstanding Declaratory Judgement on Unconstitutionality (Declaratoria general de inconstitucionalidad) declaring unconstitutional the prohibition on the recreational and adult use of cannabis in Mexico. This is only the second time that such a judicial mechanism has been used. At issue are five specific articles in the General Law on Health (Ley General de Salud).
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07 May 2021 | Publications

Cannabis in Mexico Report – May 2021

By the close of its most recent Ordinary Session on Friday, April 30, 2021, the Mexican Congress had still not passed the new law regulating the production, marketing and sale of cannabis and its derived products for personal recreational use. The Congress, therefore, entered into a state of non-compliance with an order of the Supreme Court of the Republic to appropriately regulate legal cannabis use by April 30, creating an awkward legal situation. The draft cannabis law is now orphaned in a kind of legislative limbo.
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15 Jan 2021 | Publications

Cannabis in Mexico Report – January 2021

As anticipated, the Government of Mexico legalized and regulated the medical use of cannabis and its byproducts on January 13, 2021. This is a key step in creating a new legal space for the use of cannabis in Mexico and sets the stage for the impending legalization of cannabis for recreational use, expected to be finalized and approved by April 30, 2021, at the latest during the upcoming session of the Mexican Congress.
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Boards & Memberships


Member, International Section of the American Bar Association (ABA)


Advisory Board Member, University of Houston, Center for U.S. and Mexican Law


Member, Ilustre y Nacional Colegio de Abogados de México (INCAM), the oldest Bar Association in Mexico


Vice President, Arbitration Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in the State of Nuevo León (Mexico)


Member, Mexican Council of Foreign Affairs (COMEXI)


Advisory Board Member, Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL)


Publications


Co-author, Private Parties in the NAFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanisms: The Mexican Experience, Vol. 77 No. 4 Tulane Law Review 1017 (March 2003).


Author, The Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard: The Mexican Experience (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller 2008).


Co-author, “Investment Protection Standards in the Mexico-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties: Fair and Equitable Treatment and Full Protection and Security.” In G. Niedrist (Ed.), Commercial Integration between the European Union and Mexico (Peter Lang Publishing Group 2013).


Author, “Arbitraje y protección a la inversión en el contexto de la reforma energética en México: Una primera aproximación desde los casos COMMISA v. Pemex y KBR v. México.” In T. Payan, S. Zamora & J. R. Cossío (Eds.), Estado de Derecho y Reforma Energética en México (Tirant Lo Blanch México 2016).


Co-author, “The Regulation of Renewable Energy in Latin America: The Experiences of Brazil and Mexico.” In V. López-Ibor Mayor (Ed.), Clean Energy Law and Regulation: Climate Change, Energy Union and International Governance (Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing 2017).