Amaia Rivas joins Pinsent Masons from FROB (Spanish Executive Resolution Authority), where she was Legal director since 2022 (as reported by Legal Dealmaker), providing Legal advice to the chairman of the FROB and to the organisation as a whole.
Before that role she was director of International Legal Affairs and director of Legal Relations with Investee Entities of the FROB, as well as a renowned International Arbitration State Attorney, leading the defence of the Kingdom of Spain as Team Leader in various international investment arbitrations relating to the energy and finance sectors.
As an International Arbitrator, she specialised in Investor-State Disputes. 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 and 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 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.
She graduated in Law and Business Administration with honours (1st in her class) at Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE).
