Escuela de Derecho

President: Pérez Alati, Jorge Luis. Pérez Alati, Grondona, Benites, Arntsen & Martínez de Hoz (Jr.)

Bomchil, Máximo Luis. M&M Bomchil. 

Cambiaso, Juan E. Ex-Estudio Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal. 

Duggan, Juan P. Estudio Hope, Duggan & Silva.

Ferrarazzo, Germán. GAF Abogados.

Fortunati, Roberto. Estudio Beccar Varela.

Lynch, Horacio María. Estudio Lynch y Asociados.

Mairal, Héctor. Estudio Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal.

Menegazzo Cané, Miguel. Estudio Baker & McKenzie.

Mitrani, Cristian. Mitrani Caballero Ojam Abogados.

Negri, Juan Javier. Estudio Negr, Busso y Fariña Abogados.

O´Farrell, Uriel Federico. Estudio O´Farrell.

Rozanski, Horacio S. Estudio Rozanski. 

The School has full-time faculty in the areas of Legal and Political Philosophy, Constitutional Law, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Tax Law, Law and Economics, International Law, and Intellectual Property Law.   These researchers publish their work in top international peer-reviewed journals and publishers, and they are actively participants in global debates within their fields. Many of them have received prestigious awards, including fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Furthermore, the Law School provides a truly demanding regime of faculty appointment and promotion, which includes anonymous international evaluation. The School is also committed to supporting its best graduates to apply to the most prestigious foreign schools in order to continue their professional or academic careers. 

Among the main strengths of the School is its insertion in the global academic community. On the one hand, the list of visitors includes some of the leaders in the relevant disciplines. Both foreign faculty and Argentine faculty teaching in the US come  regularly to Di Tella to teach both our undergraduate and graduate students, and conduct research seminars while on campus. Ron Daniels (now President of Johns Hopkins University), Fernando Teson and Thomas Ulen have been our most regular visitors. On the other hand, our full-time faculty members have held and hold visiting positions at different foreign universities, such as University of Toronto, University of Arizona, University of San Diego, Louisiana State University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, London School of Economics and Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona; and have been invited as research fellows to Bowling Green State University, Oxford, Tulane, the Australian National University, and Columbia, among other institutions. The international reputation of the School has facilitated the making of many exchange programs.  Northwestern, Arizona State, Southwestern, Chicago-Kent, Texas at Austin, Pompeu Fabra, and ITAM (Mexico) are our oldest partners, but the list increases every year.  Our most recent agreements have been made with the University of San Diego and American University. 

We encourage our own students to take part in the exchange program and spend a semester abroad.  Spending a semester abroad is a unique cultural and social experience that prepares our students to face the diverse and changing environments of the globalized world.   The School has concluded exchange and research agreements with 27 foreign law schools. All the universities chosen to participate in our student exchange program are widely recognized for their academic excellence.

The production of cutting edge legal scholarship is a fundamental goal of our School.  The School has pursued this goal in an interdisciplinary way, in agreement with the model of the most prestigious Anglo-American research law schools.  The School’s hallmark has been the application to legal research of frameworks and tools borrowed from economics, history, and moral, legal and political philosophy.   

Our faculty members are in constant exchange with the most prestigious academic institutions in the United States and Europe

The School makes intense seminars, conferences and meetings (symposiums, conferences, etc.). 

Seminars´ realizations started and have continued since the creation of the School.  Seminars and paper presentations with guests and faculty members take place every Monday from 17 to 19.  

For over ten years, the first Monday of each month the Seminar of Political and Moral Philosophy takes place. The seminar is coordinated by Horacio Spector and Eduardo Rivera Lopez. This seminar is only by invitation and takes place in order to discuss relevant work of contemporary philosophy. It involves researchers from the School, advanced students and guests.

The School also organizes the Public Law Seminar, coordinated by Professor Héctor Mairal (Honorary Partner of Marval, O´Farrekk &Mairal) and Professor Luis Lozano (President of the Superior Court of Justice of the City of Buenos Aires). The Public Law Seminar is a forum for the discussion of the main developments and problems of Argentine and international Public Law. Legal scholars and practitioners from Di Tella and other universities present their work-in-progress before an audience of students, professors and special guests.

                  

           

          

The Journal of Legal Education has dedicated one of its articles to educational reform in Latin America (“The Current State of Legal Education Reform in Latin America: A Critical Appraisal”, by Juny Montoya, Vol. 59 (4), 2010) and has included UTDT School of Law within the group of the most innovative schools of law in Latin America.   

In 2008 the Atlas Foundation awarded the School of Law the Francisco de Vitoria Prize in Human Rights, mainly for the works Guido Pincione and Horacio Spector have published on human rights, freedom and equality. 

We help our students to build their career from the very outset. The School is fortunate to have a talented student body, and another key part of our mission is to equip them to become leaders in whatever career they ultimately choose. 

Career Development relies on the general office that secures placement to students from all academic programs.   Up to day, our full-time professors serve as tutors to our students and provide proper guidance when deciding course selection, general career advice, choosing where to pursue graduate studies, or fellowships available. Additionally, our alumni are very active and have formed a strong network. Our graduates are very generous to mentor and to generate opportunities for current students. Our Faculty, graduates, and our Advisory Board all form a supportive community of the professional development of our students and graduates. 

Although it is not a prerequisite for graduation as a lawyer, most of our students start working on a part-time basis during the last year of the law program (this is why our undergraduate upper level curriculum is adapted accordingly). Thanks to its reputation and network, Di Tella operates as an invaluable platform for externships or internships, as well as later long-term employment opportunities. 

The biggest social and educational event, since its creation in 2010 in the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the first graduating class has been the Alumni Day, where alumni can participate in enriching discussions led by renowned specialists, followed by a social event to encourage mingling among different cohorts. 

The graduates of the Law School have its own network community: web page, LinkedIn group and Facebook group.

Awards: We are very proud of the many national and international prizes and scholarships awarded to our graduates, that reflect their academic excellence.

In 2009, 2010, and 2011, our graduates have received the “Premio Día Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual Dr. Ernesto Aracana Zorraquín” (“World Intellectual Property Day Dr. Ernesto Aracana Zorraquín” awarded by the Intellectual Property Rights Association (ASDIN) to the best paper in intellectual property law.

In 2007 and 2011, our graduates have been awarded the “Innovative Minds for Development Prize”, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina AmCham.

 

Several of our graduates have been awarded Fulbright and Chevening Scholarships to pursue graduate studies in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, respectively. 

Two of our graduates have been awarded the Alan Marks Medal to the Best Graduate Thesis at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. 

Publicaciones:  We are very proud of the increasing number of national and international publications of our graduates. Some of those publications are already being quoted by Argentine courts.  Recent examples include Agustin Waisman´s paper “El daño resarcible en supuestos de responsabilidad precontractual” (LA LEY, 20/11/2002), quoted in “Neptan S.A. v/ International Container Terminal Services y otros”, 17/2/2010, CNCom., Sala A; and Federico Ruffa´s paper ““La improcedencia del recurso extraordinario federal contra las sentencias dictadas en el marco de la acción declarativa de inconstitucionalidad de la Constitución de la C.A.B.A.” (Suplemento Constitucional Revista La Ley, February 2007), cited in “Comunidad Mapuche “Lof Leufuche” s/Acción de Inconstitucionalidad”,  3073/2007, Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Provincia de Río Negro.  

The School has pioneered the introduction of law & economics to legal education in Argentina. In 1997 and 1998 founding Dean Horacio Spector organized the first law & economics workshops for Argentine judges at Bariloche (Argentina). Both workshops were sponsored by the Tinker Foundation. The workshops were attended by many judges; Argentine and American scholars were also invited. One of Argentine judges was Dra. Elena Highton de Nolasco, who is the current Vice-President of the Argentine Supreme Court.  

The Law School has contributed with research for the improvement of the Argentine judiciary. During 2000 and 2001, founding Dean Spector organized several workshops on judicial reform with judges from Buenos Aires, Tucumán, and Neuquén. A special committee also designed a poll to investigate potential self-initiatives through which judges can improve performance of the courts.  More than 100 judges participated in these workshops.  One group of workshops searched judicial initiatives to improve the performance of the Argentine judiciary. The results of the study were published and presented in the Argentine Association of Judges by a panel composed by the Secretary of Justice and other distinguished experts (Los jueces y la reforma judicial, Buenos Aires, Rubinzal-Culzoni, 2001). The book presents possible ways in which judges themselves, that is, without intervention from the Congress or the President, can overcome the difficulties that produce backlogs or other forms of low performance in the courts.  

In recognition for his work in the field of judicial reform, the Argentine Association of Women Judges (A.M.J.A.), which tries to promote gender equality in access to Justice and the working of the judicial system, invited founding Dean Spector to become one of the few male members of the Association in 2010.  The School has also made an agreement for joint academic activities with A.M.J.A.  The main aim of the agreement is the organization of joint activities regarding gender issues and the law: gender equality, domestic violence, and human trafficking for sexual exploitation are examples of the topics of interest.  

In 2005 Horacio Spector co-founded with Fores the Index of Trust in the Judiciary (Indice de Confianza en la Justicia, ICJ), which is often consulted by the Argentine media to assess the performance of the courts.   The outcomes of the measures can be found in our website: http://www.utdt.edu/ver_contenido.php?id_contenido=521&id_item_menu=1601.

The Law School has organized many activities in partnership with high schools to introduce high school students to law, as well as to support them and introduce them to post-secondary education and to Di Tella, in particular. 

In 2010, 2011, and 2012, we organized UTDT´s United Nations Model, which brought 140 students from 34 high schools from all the country. Our Faculty members teach preparatory courses in international law and on the specific topic under discussion each year (freedom of speech, international immigration laws, the death penalty are some of the topic that have been discussed). Participating students also receive training by our upper years students in oratory and negotiation. 

The videos of the 2010 and 2011 editions of our model can be watched in our Video Gallery.

In 2011, we invited a group of selected students to participate for two days in the “Democratic Debate”. This activity was inspired by debating activities traditionally developed in Anglo Saxon countries. Our aim was to introduce students to the domain of legal reasoning and discussion. For two days, we asked them two provide reasons for or against issues of public interest such as freedom of speech in the Internet, humanitarian intervention, piracy, among other topics. As preparation to this event, our Faculty introduced the participants to the issues that were discussed later on during the debates. 

In 2012, we organized the “Social Networks on Trial”, where selected students participated in a role-game, where they were asked to defend certain views on the positive or negative value of social networks for our society. Students discussed about cyberbullying in the Internet, freedom of speech in social networks, the Wikileaks case, among other topics related to the Internet. In preparation to this event, our Faculty lectured the participants on intellectual property, the proportionality test as a justification for restricting rights in democratic societies, among other topics-. The event also included a debate between high school and university students, and high school and law professors about cyberbullying. The video of the “Lawsuit Against Social Networks” can be watched in our Video Gallery.

Professor Roberto Gargarella organized two international workshops in 2004 and 2009 to examine the potential of litigation as a strategy to advance the right to health by holding governments accountable for access to health services and essential medications. The workshops at Di Tella formed part of a series of international workshops that gathered experts from Costa Rica, South Africa, India, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.  The papers were published in a volume edited by Alicia Ely Yamin and Siri Gloppen (Litigating Health Rights, Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health, Harvard University Press, 2011). 

The legal clinic participates in: (1) cases that are of public interest and may have a positive impact in our society such as the promotion of the rule of law; (2) cases that are of theoretical interest for students, and (3) cases where students may have enough time to develop sound legal arguments. This explains why most of the cases are “amicus curiae” or “unconstitutionality actions” before the City of Buenos Aires Supreme Court. These types of petitions are not subject to stricter time-constraints as is the case with other petitions before the courts.    

In 2008, the legal clinic and the Washington College of Law, American University made an agreement in virtue of which the legal clinic would develop international litigation strategies and support the work of Washington College of Law´s Impact Litigation Project, Freedom of Expression Program. This agreement resulted in the Amicus Curiae Brief filed before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in defense of the right of freedom of speech which was allegedly violated by the Government of Venezuela.

A summary of the cases in which the clinic participated follows. In some of the cases mentioned in this summary, an Argentinean NGO (“Asociación por los Derechos Civiles” –A.D.C.) also took part in the judicial action (Professor Hernán Gullco, Director of the legal clinic, sits at the Executive Board of the A.D.C.)

• 2004: Petition filed before the City of Buenos Supreme Court in order to ask the declaration of unconstitutionality of a local statute which barred foreigners the right to be teachers in the public education system of the city (together with A.D.C.)

• 2005: Petition filed before the Buenos Aires Supreme Court in order to ask the declaration of unconstitutionality of a local statute which barred foreigners the right to be public notaries (together with A.D.C.)

• 2005: Petition filed before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in order to ask that the tapping of the telephone used by an employee by his employer violated his right to privacy.

• 2006: Petition filed before the City of Buenos Aires Supreme Court in order to ask for the declaration of unconstitutionality of the local traffic statue. It was argued that the provision violated the rule of law because it delegated excessive powers to the local Executive Branch.

• 2007. Petition filed before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. It was argued that the local statue which barred foreigners from the profession of public notaries violated the right of equal treatment recognized in the American Convention on Human Rights.

• 2008. Amicus Curiae Brief filed before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in defense of the right of freedom of speech which was allegedly violated by the Government of Venezuela.

• 2008. Amicus Curiae Brief filed before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in defense of petitioner’s right to be maintained in her post at Venezuela’ s judiciary. It was argued that her firing from her judge’s position amounted to a violation to the right of judicial independence protected under the American Convention.

• 2009. Amicii Curiae Briefs filed before Argentinean Federal Courts (trial and appellate levels) in defense of the rights of a professor who had been fired by a National University.

• 2010. Amicus Curiae Brief filed before Argentinean Supreme Court in defense of the right of a newspaper to publish ads with offers of sexual solicitation. It was argued that, as prostitution was legal under national law, the ban on ads related with that activity violated the constitutional right to free speech.

• 2011. Petition filed before the City of Buenos Aires Supreme Court in order to ask for the declaration of unconstitutionality of several provisions which barred the right to vote in local elections to persons convicted for crimes.

• 2011. Amicus Curiae Brief before a Federal Court in behalf of a complaint filed by a newspaper which alleged that a Presidential Decree banning sex-solicitation ads violated the rule of law and free speech.

• 2011. Amicus Brief filed before Argentinean Supreme Court in behalf of the Public Counselor of the Rights of Children and Incapacitated People of the City of Buenos Aires. It was argued that that the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to hear a case which involved the right to a lodging claimed by a single mother and her incapacitated son.

• 2012. Amicus Brief filed before Argentinean Supreme Court in behalf of a newspaper which had been found liable for damages by a provincial supreme court for publishing news which were considered to be damaging to a third party’s reputation.

• 2012. Amicus Brief filed before the City of Buenos Aires Supreme Court in behalf of the Public Defender of the City of Buenos who argued that the conviction of a defendant violated his right to be tried publicly recognized by the American Convention of Human Rights (together with A.D.C.)

In addition to the work of our legal clinic, our faculty has filed several amicus curiae regarding important public issues, for instance: same sex marriage in Argentina and Mexico, unionization of police forces, freedom of speech and the prohibition of advertising sexual services in newspapers, access to health services, among other issues of public interest. 

The Law School is a founding member of Sui Iuris - the Iberoamerican Association of Law Schools. The Association has only been formally formed in the 2012 meeting at Mexico City, DF, but two previous meetings had taken place in Madrid, Spain and in Santiago, Chile. The School participated in all of the meetings. The aim of the association is to foster cooperation ties between the school members of the Association.

The Torcuato Di Tella University Revista Argentina de Teoría Jurídica is a law journal dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to legal studies. While the journal’s principal focus is legal theory, it also includes theoretical analysis of case-law, juridical commentary, notes, and surveys of literature.

The Journal published its first issue in 1999, and since then it has published 13 volumes. Since its founding, the journal has sought to contribute to and amplify traditional legal doctrine by exploring the connections between law, economics, moral and political philosophy, history, and political science. 

The direction of the journal is undertaken by a faculty member of the Law School. Other faculty members serve on the Academic Committee.  Students have main editorial responsibilities.  Since 2008, almost 50 students have been taking part of the Journal, and actively collaborated in the electronic and paper edition of the RATJ.

In 2009, with the publication of Volume 10, the journal celebrates 10 consecutive years of publication during which it has made its mark on legal scholarship.  The journal’s impact on the contemporary debate surrounding legal and social problems in Argentina has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentina (CSJN), which mentions the journal in its  “Mazzeo” ruling (Fallos 330:3248), in which two articles were cited.

The journal appears in both digital and paper formats. The digital format journal is issued biannually in June and November.  It is available free of charge at the Escuela de Derecho website. The paper edition, published annually, is tailored to a wider audience from various disciplinary backgrounds. It contains a selection of articles and notes that the editors consider pertinent to the general-interest reader.  

The journal is edited by Law School students, who may also contribute their original work.  The direction and academic coordination of the journal is undertaken by faculty of the Law School.

Issues included discussions of fundamental public problems, which have in all cases been examined from different political and philosophical perspectives: the scope and limits of freedom of expression; global justice; punishment; the welfare state. 

The RATJ has published in Spanish, for the first time, Ronald Dworkin’s introduction to the English version of the Report of the National Commission for Missing People (CONADEP). It also included original articles by well-known scholars such as Jeremy Waldron, Philipe Pettit, Jon Elster, David Schmidtz, or G.A. Cohen. 

In addition, every volume includes essays by young scholars or students, so as to help them begin an academic career. 

Finally, the RATJ has organized numerous public debates, directed at discussing burning public issues from different perspectives. These debates have included discussions around the topics of abortion; the new legislation about femicides; or the new Civil and Commercial Code. For instance, on September 12, 2012, the students coordinated a symposium on the recent proposal of unification of the Argentine Civil and Commercial Codes. The proceedings of the symposium have been distributed to members of the Argentine Congress. Some of the papers published in that special issue have been quoted by panelists in their presentations before our National Congress.