Francisco Reyes Villamizar

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Francisco Reyes Villamizar is a PhD attorney with broad experience in the international harmonization of law. 

He has worked along or being a delegate to the World Bank, UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT, OECD and the OAS. He has been a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute. A former Superintendent of Companies from Colombia (2014-2018), He has also acted as an ad-hoc Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (Colombian antitrust authority) (2017).

In 2015 he was the Chairman of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

He participated in different capacities in several UNCITRAL Working Groups. IN 2013 he was appointed Rapporteur of Working Group 1. He actively participated in the discussion of drafting of the Legislative Guide on Key Principles of a Business Registry (issued in 2018).

As part of a World Bank assignment, he co-drafted the 2022 Commercial Code of Mozambique. He’s currently working as a World Bank STC for the Commercial Registry Assessment of Sao Tome and Principe. He’s currently a Member of the UNIDROIT Working Group Concerning Collaborative Legal Structures for Agri-Business (since 2024).

He has been an active participant and draftsman of several comprehensive legislative reforms to the Colombian laws of Corporations and Bankruptcy, including the successful law on Simplified Stock Corporations enacted in 2008. He prepared the OAS Model Law on Simplified Corporations. He also presided over the governmental commissions for the amendment of the Colombian Bankruptcy Law and the Law on Secured Transactions.

LLB from Javeriana University in Bogotá, LLM from the University of Miami School of Law and PhD in Law from the University of Tilburg. He also holds a diploma in Portuguese Culture from the University of Lisbon (Portugal).

Dr. Reyes Villamizar has been a Visiting Professor in four continents, including Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA), Stetson College of Law (Gulfport, FL), University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), University of Miami (FL), Université de Lyon Jean Moulin (France), University of Fribourg (Switzerland), University of Tilburg (The Netherlands), Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Universidade Agostinho Neto (Angola), Doshisha of Kyoto (Japan) and Universidad Austral (Argentina). 

Author of several books and articles in the fields of Business Associations and Bankruptcy. His extensive scholarly production includes publications in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Author of the books Latin American Company Law (Carolina Academic Press, 2013), Direito Societario Americano (Quatier Latin, 2012), Análisis Económico del Derecho Societario (Astrea, 2018), and a two-volume treatise on Colombian Company Law (Temis, 2006).

Speaker at several international fora, including those at the Supreme Courts of Brazil and Mexico, as well as Columbia, Harvard and Fordham Universities.

For several years he served as director and Chairman of the Board at the Latin American publishing company Legis S.A.

He has been an expert witness before courts in New York, Florida, Arizona and California.

I. PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND EXPERIENCE:

• Colombian      Ministry of Justice: 1994 – Advised government on several legislative      projects. Served as Secretary in the six commissions for Commercial Law      Reform created by the Colombian Government.

• Francisco      Reyes & Asociados (Law Firm): 1st Period: December 1995 to      October 2014: Partner and Founder of Law Firm. 2nd Period: From      December 2018 until now.

• Legis      Editores S.A.: Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board.      October 2011 – October 2014.

• Chairman      of the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law - UNCITRAL      (July 2015-July 2016),

• Superintendent      at the Colombian Superintendency of Companies (October 2014-November 2018).

• Ad-Hoc      Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (2017).

• Drafter      of several law reforms on Colombian Corporate and Bankruptcy Laws.

• Drafter      of the Organization of American States Model Law on Simplified      Corporations (adopted in 2017).

• World      Bank Consultant for Insolvency Law Evaluation in Colombia (2013).

• Senior      Regulatory Specialist. IFC. Projects in Indonesia and Mozambique for the      reform of Commercial Law Legislation (Company Law, Contracts and Insolvency) (Since December 2018).

• Member      of UNIDROIT Working Group concerning Collaborative Legal Structures for      Agri-Enterprises (2024-2025).

• World      Bank Short Term Consultant for the Commercial Registry Assessment of Sao      Tome and Principe (2025).

II. TEACHING CAREER and EXPERIENCE:

Visiting Professor since 2002 on various occasions at the following Universities:

A. Latin America

1. Universidad Católica Argentina (Buenos Aires, Argentina) (In Spanish).

2. Universidad Nacional del Sur (Bahía Blanca, Argentina) (In Spanish)

3. Universidad Austral (Buenos Aires, Argentina) (In Spanish).

4. Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (Mexico City) (In Spanish).

5. Universidad San Martín de Porres (Lima, Perú) (In Spanish).

B. United States

1. Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, United States) (In English).

2. University of Arizona (Tucson, United States) (In English).

3. Stetson College of Law (Gulfport, United States) (In English).

4. University of Miami School of Law (Miami, United States) (In English).

C. Europe

1. University of Tilburg (The Netherlands) (In English).

2. University of Fribourg (Switzerland) (In English).

3. University Jean Moulin (LSU Summer Program) (Lyon, France) (In English)

4. University of Granada (Stetson University Summer Program) (Granada, Spain) (In English)

D. Africa

· Universidade Agostinho Neto (Luanda, Angola) (In Portuguese).

E.  Asia

· Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan) (In English).

III. Academic Programs (administrative positions):

· Former Director of the Department of Commercial Law at Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia

· Former Director of the Graduate Program in Commercial Law at Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia

· Former Director of the Graduate Program in Corporate Law at Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia

IV. ACADEMIC DEGREES:

Date, Institution and Name of Degree: 

1982. University of Lisbon (Portugal). Diploma in Portuguese Culture

1989. Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia), Bachelor of Laws.

1993. University of Miami (United States), Master of Laws.

2011. University of Tilburg (The Netherlands). PhD in Law.

V. Books and papers (selected):

1. Books in English      (Published in the US and Colombia)

· Latin American Company Law: A New Policy Agenda: Reshaping the Closely Held Entity Landscape, NATLAW, Carolina Academic Press, 2012.

· The Colombian SAS: A Comparative and Functional Perspective, Bogotá, Ed. Temis, 2018.

2. Books in Portuguese (Published in Brazil)

· Direito Societário Americano, Estudo Comparativo [Corporation Law in the US, A Comparative Study], Sao Paulo, Ed. Quartier Latin, 2013.

1. Books in Spanish (Published in Colombia and Argentina)

· Disolución y Liquidación de Sociedades ["Dissolution and Liquidation of Corporations"] Bogotá, Ed. Doctrina y Ley (three editions: 1992, 1994 and 1998).

· Sociedades Comerciales en Estados Unidos, Introducción Comparativa ["Business Associations in the U.S. a Comparative Approach"], Bogotá, Ed Legis (four editions: 1995, 2005, 2006 and 2013). 

· Reforma al Régimen de Sociedades y Concursos [“Reforms to the Law of Corporations and Bankruptcy"], Bogotá, Ed. Temis (two editions: 1996 and 1999).

· Transformación, fusión y escisión de sociedades [“Change of Form, Mergers and Corporate Divisions”], Bogotá, Ed. Temis (2000).

· Arbitraje comercial en los Estados Unidos [“Corporate Arbitration in the U.S.”] (Coauthored with Professor Alan R. Palmiter), Bogotá, Ed. Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá (2001).

· SAS, La Sociedad por Acciones SImplificada [“The Simplified Corporation”], Bogotá, Ed. Legis, (four editions 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2018).

· Análisis Económico del Derecho Societario [“Economic Analysis of Corporate Law”], Bogotá, Ed. Legis (Two editions:in Colombia 2012 and 2013). (Argentine Edition, Astrea Publishing, 2019)

· Derecho Societario [Two volume Treatise on “Colombian Company Law”], Bogotá, Ed. Temis (Three editions 2002, 2006 and 2017).

· La SAS y su influencia en América Latina, 10 años de realizaciones [“The Simplified Corporation, Ten Years of a Success], Bogotá, Ed. Legis, 2018.

4. Articles, Book chapters and On-line publications: 

• Electronic Commerce:      Recent Legal Developments in Colombia (September 1, 2004). Arizona Journal      of International and Comparative Law, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2000.

• Corporate Governance in      Latin America: A Functional Analysis (August 1, 2007). University of Miami      Inter-American Law Review, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2008.

• Modernizing Latin      American Company Law: Creating an All-Purpose Vehicle for Closely Held      Business Entities – The New Simplified Stock Corporation (September 9,      2011). Penn State International Law Review, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2011.

• Company Law, Lawyers and      'Legal' Innovation: Common Law versus Civil Law (Coauthored with      Vermeulen, Erik P. M.), (August 10, 2011), Lex Research Topics in      Corporate Law & Economics Working Paper No. 2011-3.

• The Colombian Simplified      Corporation: Corporate Law Disintermediation in a Developing Jurisdiction,      Fall, 2015, Wake Forest Law Review, 50 Wake Forest L. Rev. 743.

• The Colombian Simplified      Corporation: A Proposed Model for Developing Jurisdictions (2016), Arizona      Journal of International & Comparative Law, Vol. 33, No. 1, Symposium 2016.

VI. PRESENTATIONS AND DISTINGUISHED LECTURES:

· Louisiana State University. Tucker Lecture. Model Law on Simplified Corporations (2015)

· Supreme Court of Mexico. Economic Analysis of Corporate Law (2009)

· Supreme Tribunal of Brazil. Law and Economics (2010)

· University of Fordham. The Colombian Simplified Corporation (2016)

· Wake Forest University. Keynote Lecture: Environmental, Social and Governance – ESG (2022)

· Universidade de Sao Paulo, Keynote Lecture: Mergers & Acquisitions (2022)

VII. AWARDS:

Universidad Javeriana, Gold Medal “Felix Restrepo” for Distinguished Services to the University and the country (2015).

Commercial Law Jurist of the Year: Cali Bar Association (2015).

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS

Memberships to Academies:

1. Academy of Comparative Law

1. Colombian Academy of Jurisprudence