Was a pioneer in Argentine Environmental Law, and became an undisputed referent in the field.
After developing the Environmental Law area at the Allende & Brea Law Firm for more than ten years, he branched out in 2005 and, together with Mr. Hugo Bunge Guerrico, Mr. Pedro Zambrano and a team of excellent professionals, they formed the Environmental Law Business Unit at Rattagan Macchiavello Arocena & Peña Robirosa Law Firm.
This team has decided to continue under the name Estudio Gabriel Macchiavello, with its 23 members, partners, lawyers, paralegals and collaborators, many of whom have an extensive career and have worked alongside its founding partner, e.g. Ms. Juliana Salvucci, Ms. Belen Counduros and Mr. Ramón Santamarina.
Specializes in Environmental Law, with focus on Industrial and Corporate needs.
Our staff, highly experienced in the matter, provides both international and domestic corporations with advice on Technical Environmental standards and regulations.
Every operation, counsel, administrative or judicial defense will encompass a comprehensive view of the Legal System to help enjoy all the rights and guarantees set forth in our Constitution, i.e. sustainable development, engaging in a lawful activity, private property, reasonability of regulations, nulla pena sine lege, or the right to a defense.
Specializes in Environmental Law, with focus on Industrial and Corporate needs.
Our staff, highly experienced in the matter, provides both international and domestic corporations with advice on Technical Environmental standards and regulations.
Every operation, counsel, administrative or judicial defense will encompass a comprehensive view of the Legal System to help enjoy all the rights and guarantees set forth in our Constitution, i.e. sustainable development, engaging in a lawful activity, private property, reasonability of regulations, nulla pena sine lege, or the right to a defense.
Assessment in
Environmental Law
Mr. Hugo Bunge Guerrico earned his Law degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1972, and has more than forty years of professional experience.
He was founding partner at Nicholson & Cano Abogados in 1976 and, was the managing partner of the firm from 1983 through 1991. In that role, he was in charge of the legal orientation, the scientific quality and the practicality of the advice offered to all the firm’s clients. This role turned him into a general practitioner with knowledge in Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Procedure Law, expert in regulations applied to specific corporate activities, as the sugar industry and the reinsurance regulatory framework.
As leading attorney of the Ledesma group, between 1976 and 1995, and several other sugar companies and leading insurance companies, he participated in complex conflicts among private companies and the Federal Administration, and inter-company conflicts, which allowed him to specialize in the strategic direction of these types of litigations.
Since 2002, he was of counsel to Gabriel Macchiavello –then partner with Allende & Brea– collaborating with him in his clients’ judicial and administrative procedures in connection with Environmental Law.
In 2005, he was one of the seven partners that constituted the firm “Rattagan, Macchiavello, Arocena.” Since then, he has participated with Mr. Gabriel Macchiavello and Mr. Pedro Zambrano in the strategic direction of environmental conflicts of the firm’s clients.
He is proficient in English.
Mr. Pedro L. Zambrano specializes in environmental conflicts and conflicts with government agencies, as well as corporate advice in environmental regulation and its adequate analysis to avoid or mitigate those conflicts. His solid academic background, and his 30-year old expertise in litigation in different fields, have made him an expert in highly complex administrative procedures and legal processes on toxic tort cessation and redress.
He earned his Law degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1995. From 1997 through 1998, he completed a Postgraduate course in Economic Administrative Law at the Argentine Catholic University, with the highest GPA of his class, and the maximum grade for his thesis.
From 1990 through 1999, he worked at the Federal Administrative Courts, where he was promoted to Court Clerk. In 2000, he was recruited as senior associate at Allende & Brea, where he first collaborated in the creation of the Administrative Law Area and then he consolidated the Environmental Law Area in that law firm.
He was a founding partner of Rattagan Macchiavello Arocena & Peña Robirosa at the time of its creation,in 2005.
His professional experience in litigation, his solid academic training and his eighteen years collaborating with Mr. Gabriel Macchiavello make him one of the most experienced specialists in administrative procedures and judicial cases related to environmental conflicts in different scenarios (civil, criminal, administrative, etc.). He has a deep understanding of the special nature and particularities of these type of procedures, since environmental conflicts are class actions promoted by individuals, NGOs or government agencies, very different from regular civil or administrative cases.
In this field, he intervened in high-profile environmental cases representing interests of top domestic, international and foreign companies with activity in our country and in Latin America. He has participated in several toxic torts in the upstream, midstream and downstream oil, mining and chemical industries, as well as other industries, leather, meat processing, food, paint, water extraction and bottling, petcoke calcination and storage, transgenic seeds and agrochemicals’ production, herbicides and diesel engines emissions.
His daily connection with the environmental conflict, and his academic profile have allowed him to provide reliable legal advice services related to the analysis of environmental laws, regulations and standards to avoid –or mitigate- environmental conflicts with regulatory authorities or industrial facilities’ neighbors. On the other hand, he regularly provides advice in several processes of public work’, environmental impact assessment, generation of renewable energies, corporate acquisitions and identification of legal and environmental contingencies.
He taught specialization programs at Argentine Catholic University’s Law School, and the subject Administrative Law at the University of Buenos Aires and Universidad Austral, where he also lectured at many conferences in the field.
Among his multiple academic Works, we can highlight his publications on Environmental Constitutional Law: “El daño ambiental y la obligación de remediar” [Environmental Damage and the Obligation to Remediate], written with Mr. Gabriel Macchiavello for the Energía & Negocios magazine, Year 10, No. 107, June 2005; or “El derecho de defensa en juicios ambientales” [The justify to a Defense in Toxic Torts], La Ley magazine, 11/29/06, page 5, written on occasion of the Supreme Court ruling in the case “ASSUPA” in August 2006, when an exception for insufficiency of a pleading was sustained, marking an inflection point in legal precedence, which allowed a defendant to prove his case in the face of generic environmental arguments.
His academic training in Administrative Law and legal processes has led him to publish works on precautionary measures, as “Medidas cautelares autónomas y el derecho de defensa en juicio: ¿Por el artículo 12 de la Ley 19.549 o por el artículo 230 del Código Procesal?” [Autonomous Precautionary Measures and the justify to a Defense in Trial: Through Section 12 of Law 19 549 or Section 230 of the Procedure Code?], La Ley magazine, 1998-C, pages 344 – 354;
He did not neglect his passion for Administrative Procedural Law, publishing, among other works “Administration’s Silence and Statutory Deadlines to Sue the Federal Administration. Prescription and Limitation in View of the New Regulation on Pre-Litigation Procedures”, Lexis Nexis, Collection of Legal Monographies No. 155, Buenos Aires, 2006.
He also is proficient in English.
Ms. Juliana Salvucci graduated with honors from the University of Buenos Aires in 2004. Since then she has consolidated her career as a toxic tort specialist.
While she was a student, she worked for a Federal Civil Court as Court Aide, and then she worked for three years at Hope, Duggan & Silva, in the Administrative, Civil and Commercial Litigation areas.
She began focusing on Environmental Law since she was an undergraduate, and went on to take several Postgraduate courses on the subject. In 2005, she took the Postgraduate Course on Environmental Law and Economy offered by the University of El Salvador and the Carlos III University of Madrid, and in December 2009, she completed the Refresher Program in Oil and Gas of the University of Buenos Aires.
She was also assistant teacher in the orientation cycle of the University of Buenos Aires’s Law School in the subject “The justify to the Environment in Case Law” (2006-2012) and participated in many seminars and conferences on environmental issues and legal conflicts.
She was incorporated to the Environmental Conflicts’ Area of the Firm in 2008, and since then, she worked alongside Mr. Gabriel Macchiavello and Mr. Pedro Zambrano. This collaboration helped her acquire vast experience in different aspects of environmental conflicts (contentious administrative, civil and criminal, etc.) and gave her a comprehensive view of the conflict in order to draft more efficient defense strategies. At the same time, she has learned how to prevent prosecution for these conflicts by drafting the justify proposals.
She can interpret the technical-scientific disciplines related to Environmental Law, which helps her coordinate the necessary actions to assess the sites’ environmental situation, the production of expert reports and challenges. She also provides advice on environmental liability assessment.
She currently collaborates with Mr. Pedro Zambrano in the direction of legal and administrative processes of the Firm.
She is proficient in English and has an intermediate level of French.
Ms. Belén Counduros earned her Law degree from the Torcuato Di Tella University in 2008.
In 2011, she took the ISO 14 001 internal auditor course at Bureau Veritas. In 2013-2014, she took the Environmental Law Specialization Course at the Argentine Catholic University.
Between 2009 and 2015, she was an associate at a law firm specialized in Environmental Law.
She was incorporated to the firm in 2015, and she worked closely with Mr. Gabriel Macchiavello. She now leads the Environmental Law advisory area, where she handles complex soil and groundwater remediation processes.
In this field, she has proven experience to support our clients in remediation processes, designing different courses of action to comply with the technical and legal demands of different projects, and representing our clients before the authorities.
She also offers advice on regulatory matters, environmental due diligence processes and she coordinates the update of the Environmental Matrices Management System –SIGEMA for its Spanish acronym-, a tool that allows different corporations to verify their compliance with environmental regulatory obligations, and be updated on environmental legislation.
She knows technical-environmental standards in depth, which allows her to coordinate and perform S&H and environmental compliance audits at different facilities across the country, and she often provides trainings on the interpretation and enforcement of environmental regulations.
Her profile is highly regarded by the firm’s Environmental Conflict team, as she provides invaluable support in drawing up judicial and administrative documents that require thorough knowledge of the technical standards and industrial processes involved.
She also supports her clients in obtaining environmental permits, licenses and authorizations, and in negotiating sales and acquisitions of industrial sites with environmental liability.
She participates in the Environmental Law Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce of Argentina (AMCHAM).
She is proficient in French and English.
Mr. Ramón Santamarina earned his Law Degree from the Argentine Catholic University, has a BA in Corporations (Universidad Notarial), and a Master’s Degree in Economic Integration Law (La Sorbonne-Paris University, together with Universidad del Salvador.)
He specializes in Insurance and Reinsurance Law, and has more than 30 years of experience in that field. He has participated in the development of new products and special coverages, drafting and handling the terms and conditions of policies and other contractual instruments. Particularly, he has drawn up insurance policies for environmental liability, transport and environmental damage, and has counseled the authorities in the creation of regulatory standards in this field and in matters of self-insurance.
He has also played an active role in corporate matters, financial businesses and real estate operations. He participated in the elaboration of financial, administration and guarantee trusts, both through public and private offerings.
He was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at Zurich Argentina Compañía de Seguros (until 2004), and prior to that, he had worked in areas such as Legal Services and Claims, surety bonds, liability and other complex lines of insurance. Also in that company, he was in charge of the South American South Cone market (until 2004.)
He was a member of the Board of Directors of Compañía de Seguros de Crédito a la Exportación (until 1992).
He was member of the Executive Committee of the Foreign Insurers Association (representative of branches and general agencies of foreign insurers in the country) and member of the Management Board of the Argentine Association of Insurance Companies.
In 2005, he was one of the seven partners that constituted the firm “Rattagan, Macchiavello, Arocena.”
In the last years, he has participated in different corporate and real estate operations, and other contract issues where environmental matters were involved.
Specifically, in terms of environmental insurance, he has collaborated with the authorities in the regulation of that line of insurance, he has lectured at many conferences and written articles on the subject, including related matters such as financial guarantees, environmental self-insurance, liability of directors and managers over environmental damage and their insurance.
He is proficient in English.
Ms. Andrea Gonda earned her Law degree from the University of Buenos Aires in March, 2014.
As a Law undergraduate, she performed administrative tasks and was teaching assistant in the subject of General Theory of Law at the University of Buenos Aires’ Law School.
She has taken different refresher courses offered by the University of Buenos Aires.
She was incorporated to the firm as Junior Associate in July 2014 and she currently is a Senior Associate with the Environmental Unit’s Advisory Area.
Among the different tasks that she performs, she provides advice on S&H, environmental and occupational health matters. She also assists our clients in processes necessary to obtain environmental permits, authorizations and licenses, or any other requirement issued by Federal, Provincial or Municipal authorities.
She has broad experience in conducting environmental and safety & hygiene compliance audits in industrial facilities, agricultural activities, mines, among others across the country.
Her vast knowledge of applicable technical-environmental regulations allows her to work in coordination with the Firm’s team of environmental conflicts in the elaboration of answers to complaints and administrative remedies.
She coordinates, with Belén Counduros, the update of the Environmental Matrices Management System –SIGEMA for its Spanish acronym- and the elaboration of regulatory matrices.
She is proficient in English.
Ms. Florencia Borsani earned her Law degree from the University of Buenos Aires in December 2011.
From 2008 through 2012, she worked independently on tort cases as plaintiff. Later, she worked on cases involving labor risk insurers.
She was incorporated to the Environmental Conflict area of our firm in May 2015 and is a Senior Associate.
Thanks to her broad experience and her invaluable work capacity Ms. Borsani handles Court and administrative cases with great professionalism. She has also participated in the production of complex technical expert reports and other evidence related to toxic torts, furthering her professional background in the matter.
She is proficient in English.
Ms. Carolina Barzi earned her Law degree from the Argentine Catholic University in December 2011.
From 2012 to 2019, she worked as a legal-environmental advisory specialist attorney.
In 2014-2015, she took the Environmental Law Specialization Course at the Argentine Catholic University.
She was incorporated to the Environmental Law Advice Area of our firm in 2020.
She has broad experience in preparation of environmental and safety & hygiene matrices.
She participates in environmental due diligence processes and environmental and safety & hygiene compliance audits in different companies.
She also provides legal advice on national, provincial and municipal environmental permits processing.
She dictates environmental and safety & hygiene incident prevention training conferences.
She performs as an assistant professor on the “Environmental principles and policies” subject at the Argentine Catholic University.
She is proficient in English.
Mr. Bruno Pileggi earned his Law degree from Universidad del Salvador’s School of Juridical Sciences in April 2015.
Between 2017 and 2018 he took the Environmental Law Specialization Course at the Argentine Catholic University.
From 2012 through 2015 he worked at a Law firm exclusively dedicated to civil cases for damages and environmental issues.
He was a member of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers of Patagonia from 2012 through 2015.
He has been incorporated to the firm in November 2015, and has supplemented his solid academic background in Environmental Law with actual follow up of Court and administrative cases.
He has published the article “El derecho al acceso a la información pública ambiental en Argentina bajo la interpretación de la Opinión Consultiva OC 23/17 de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos” [The justify to Access Public Environmental Information in Argentina under Interpretation of the Advisory Opinion OC 23/17 of the Inter-American Court of Human justifys], Magazine El Derecho, Ed. 280, published in November 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He is proficient in English and has an intermediate level of French.
Mr. Tomás Scuticchio earned his law degree from the Catholic University of Argentina in 2014.
While he was studying, he worked as an intern and paralegal in different law firms.
From 2015 to mid-2017, he worked at Fundación Nuevas Generaciones as an external legal counsellor for congressmen of the National Chamber of Representatives. His tasks mainly involved drafting law projects, political speeches, municipal government plans and reports about the cultural, productive, political, and social- economic agenda of Argentina. Likewise, he regularly attended to the meetings of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee, Environmental Committee, Mining and Energy Committee, Industry and Commerce Committee and Labour Committee of the National Chamber of Representatives.
From 2017 to 2020 he worked as a Semi Senior Associate lawyer at the Administrative and Environmental Law department of Allende & Brea. There, he was responsible for advising companies regarding domestic administrative procedures such as enrolling in public registers, obtaining permits and licenses, appealing fines, elaborating Due Diligence reports, and informing them about the local regulations and laws that could affect the development of their commercial activities in Argentina.
Between 2020 and 2021, he attended a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Law at the Catholic University of Argentina.
In January 2021, he began working as a Claims Handler at Barbuss Global S.A., being responsible of negotiating and settling out-of-court deals related to the international transportation of goods by land, air and sea.
He was incorporated to the Environmental Law Advise Area of our Firm in 2022.
He is proficient in English and possesses intermediate knowledge of French.
Ms. Lucía Rodríguez Caputo earned her Law degree from the University of Belgrano in December 2018.
She worked as attorney in the litigation area of two law firms (2018-2019).
She was incorporated to the Environmental Law Advice Area of our firm in 2019.
Lucía gives support on the SIGEMA regulation updates and assists the area with different inquiries on the application of S&E and Environmental regulations and on different environmental permits/procedures. She also drafts responses and exculpatory evidences to administrative charges or to file administrative remedies and collaborates in the preparation of environmental compliance audits.
She is proficient in English.
Ms. Carolina Guantay earned her Law Degree with honors from the University of Buenos Aires in 2019. She specialized in Private, Criminal, Administrative, and Public International Law.
She worked as attorney at a Law Firm, in the Tort Claims area, which helped her acquire early experience in the management of an extensive case portfolio.
She was incorporated to the Environmental Conflict area of our firm in 2020.
She is proficient in English and has an intermediate level of French.
Ms. Maria Victoria Gamba graduated as a lawyer from the University Chatolic of Salta in March 2020.
During the years 2018 and 2019 she worked in a Notarial Registry of the city of Salta, closely related to mining and corporate activity.
In 2020, she completed a postgraduate degree in Notarial Law at the University of Salvador and a Diploma in Environmental Management at the National Technological University.
She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Environmental Policy, Law and Management at the Universidad Austral.
She joined the Environmental Law Advise area in November 2020.
She is fluent in English and has knowledge of Italian.
Ms. Sofía Rallé Bouhid earned her Law Degree from the Católica Argentina University in September 2021. She chose the optative subjet Environmental Law.
She worked as an intern at Marval O’farrell Mairal law firm in the litigation area during 2019.
She was incorporated to the Environmental Law Advise Area of our Firm in April 2022.
Sofia is currently attending a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Law at the University of Buenos Aires.
She is proficient in English.