Amaia Rivas Kortazar

Partner at Clifford Chance (State Attorney)

Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain

About

Amaia is an experienced international arbitration lawyer specializing in Investor-State Disputes. With ten years’ experience in law, she has served as Counsel before treaty arbitration tribunals in 42 arbitrations under the ICSID, SCC and UNCITRAL Rules. In these investment arbitration proceedings, she has personally: - Intervened in 24 Hearings - Presented 20 Opening/Closing Statements - Conducted 36 Cross-examinations She has defended cases in The Hague, London, Washington D.C., Stockholm and Paris, and has worked in proceedings in English, Spanish and both languages. She has also worked on cases before domestic courts, including the High National Court of the Kingdom of Spain. Her experience covers the following sectors: energy, mining, infrastructures, and telecommunications. Before joining Spain’s in-house international arbitration group, she worked as State Attorney in the Spanish Tax Agency and the State Attorney Office of Spain, she has assisted as a technical expert to the Spanish Delegation in the Working Group of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union, in charge of the reform of the Council Regulation (EC) 1346-2000 on Insolvency Proceedings. Graduated with Honors (1st Place) in Law (E3) and Business Administration by the Comillas Pontifical University (ICADE), she draws skills from this background to deliver in-depth analysis in highly complex international investment disputes and defend all kind of disputes before Arbitral Tribunals and High Courts.

Experience

  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution Partner at Clifford Chance
    Jun 2025 - Present · 1 yr 2 mos

  • Public Law Partner at Pinsent Masons at Pinsent Masons
    Mar 2023 - Jun 2025 · 2 yrs 4 mos

  • FROB (4 yrs 2 mos)
    • Director of Legal Department
      Jan 2022 - Mar 2023 · 1 yr 3 mos

    • Chief of International Legal Affairs
      Jul 2020 - Jan 2022 · 1 yr 7 mos

      State Attorney, Chief of International Legal Affairs at FROB Legal Counsel for Spain in UNCITRAL Arbitration

    • Chief of Legal Relations with Investees
      Feb 2019 - Jul 2020 · 1 yr 6 mos

      State Attorney

  • State Attorney before the National High Court at Ministry of Justice of Spain
    Nov 2018 - Jan 2019 · 3 mos

  • State Attorney, International Arbitration at State's General Attorney Office (SGC) -Kingdom of Spain-
    Nov 2015 - Nov 2018 · 3 yrs 1 mo