Counsel, Experts & AI: building a strong Arbitration Case

Andres Alva, PE, PSP, leads BRG’s Latin American (LatAm) construction practice.

He is bilingual in Spanish and English and has over twenty years of experience in the sector. He has worked with owners, contractors, construction managers, program managers, and other professionals on major construction projects in the United States and South America.

Mr. Alva specializes in analyzing construction claims involving excessive changes, interference, and schedule delays. His work involves analyzing schedules and labor productivity, assessing entitlement to damages, and quantifying damages using the measured mile.

Mr. Alva analyzes and quantifies schedule delays, disruptions, and acceleration issues and performs various types of schedule analysis, including as-planned vs. as-built, time impact analysis, and windows schedule delay analysis. He also quantifies damages associated with productivity, construction defects, changes in work, and other loss issues. Mr. Alva has provided written and oral testimony or expert advice in several cases before the ICSID, ICC, and multiple chambers of commerce.

Before joining BRG, Mr. Alva was a Project Controls manager with Parsons Transportation Group, where he implemented project controls systems for large US airports, focusing on scheduling, cost, change orders, and risk management. He received an MEng in industrial engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a certified Professional Engineer from the state of Florida. He also holds a Certified General Contractor license from Florida and a Planning Scheduling Professional certificate from the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACEI).

He has wide experience providing financial assessments, performing business and assets valuation for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), divestitures, joint ventures, accounting registrations under different GAAP (IFRS, US GAAP, etc.), taxes, litigations, etc.

He also has a vast track record in M&A advisory and debt restructuring agreements, as well as performing damages valuation in the context of disputes resolutions.

Before joining BRG, Mr. Martinolich worked as a senior manager at First Capital Group in Argentina for almost nine years, providing financial advisory services in Latin America. Previously, he worked in Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance as deputy manager in the business valuation practice in Argentina and Latin America. Prior, he was part of LECG’s international arbitration practice in Buenos Aires.

Mr. Martinolich has been involved in cases in industries such as agribusiness, banking, finance, food products, oil and gas, real estate, construction, hospitality, logistics, information technology and chemistry, among others. He has provided services for leading companies in the United States and Latin America; specifically in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, and Dominican Republic.

Mr. Martinolich holds a BA in economics from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario and a postgraduate degree in finance from Universidad de San Andres.

Head of Legal for ANDRITZ Group’s hydropower division in Brazil and an Advisory Board Member of the AMCHAM Arbitration and Mediation Center, she has more than 21 years of legal experience. Throughout her career, she has developed extensive expertise in highly complex contracts, including EPC contracts, consortium agreements and FIDIC contract models. 

She specializes in leading strategic negotiations and managing contractual risks in large-scale projects. She also has extensive experience in complex litigation and arbitration, with a strong track record in technical and multidisciplinary disputes. Recognized for her strategic insight and leadership skills, she works at the intersection of technical and legal teams in highly challenging environments.

Gabriel Freitas leads the Arbitration practice at FAS Advogados in cooperation with CMS.

With over 16 years of experience in strategic litigation and arbitration, acting in complex domestic and international disputes, particularly in the energy, infrastructure, heavy industry, and construction sectors.

Prior to joining FAS Advogados, Gabriel was part of the legal leadership of a multinational energy company, ranking among the company’s leading global litigators. His work included high-profile commercial arbitrations and complex litigation involving large-scale power generation projects, equipment supply contracts, engineering agreements, and service, operation, and maintenance contracts.

Gabriel is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and in Brazil. He holds a master’s degree in arbitration and dispute resolution, a postgraduate specialization in civil procedure, and has extensive experience working in multicultural environments.

Vânia Wongtschowski Kleiman is a Founding Partner at Wongtschowski Kleiman Advogados, a law firm specializing in the resolution of strategic disputes through litigation and arbitration. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and acts as counsel and arbitrator in domestic and international disputes across a wide range of industries. She holds a master’s degree in Civil Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and has authored academic articles published in Brazil. In 2021, she was recognized as one of the Top 25 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation Latin America.

AI can already support different stages of case preparation, from document review and data analysis to claims assessment, damages analysis and hypothesis testing.

Beyond speeding up processes, these tools can help legal teams and experts identify patterns, explore scenarios and anticipate weaknesses.

The challenge lies in understanding where technology adds value and where experience, professional judgment and persuasive advocacy remain indispensable.

Complex cases are rarely built in isolation.

The panel will discuss when and how counsel, experts and clients should begin working together, aligning legal strategy, technical analysis and business objectives from the earliest stages of a dispute.

This integration can be critical to turning large volumes of facts and information into a clear, coherent and persuasive case theory.

Expert evidence in arbitration can play a decisive role in helping the tribunal understand economic, financial and technical issues.

The event will therefore also explore what makes expert analysis credible and persuasive, how to structure the interaction between counsel and experts, and how technology can support the preparation and presentation of evidence.

One of the main benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration is the ability to test arguments, identify inconsistencies and anticipate points of vulnerability.

Technology, data analysis and different professional perspectives can help counsel and experts challenge their own assumptions before the tribunal does.

The use of artificial intelligence in arbitration proceedings also requires careful consideration of issues such as data quality, bias, transparency, confidentiality and the ability to explain and defend the results produced.

The panel will discuss how to balance innovation and reliability, considering not only what technology can do, but also how its outputs should be assessed and used by experienced professionals.

Send a message to [email protected].

Send a message to [email protected].