Francisco Cox Vial

Practice Areas

White Collar Crime; Complex Litigation

Career

Founding Partner at BCP Abogados with more than 30 years of proffesional experience. Attorney, Universidad Diego Portales; LLM, Columbia University School of Law, and International Human Rights Law Summer Program organized by Oxford University and George Washington University.

During his career he has worked as an attorney in diverse complex litigation cases on the national and international levels. As part of his career related to legal counsel on human rights issues, his appointment by the OAS Inter-American Human Rights Commission as one of the vie experts tasked with investigating the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, stands out. In addition, in 2019 he was appointed by the UN Human Rights Commission as one of the three experts who will participate in a special mission tasked with undertaking an exhaustive investigation into abuses committed in Venezuela since 2014. It should be noted that Francisco Cox is the only Chilean attorney to have litigated before the International Criminal Court.

On the other hand, he has represented two government ministers in constitutional accusations presented before the National Congress. In 2019, he led the defense of Minister Marcela Cubillos, and in 2023, that of Minister Marco Antonio Ávila. Both accusations were dismissed.

Recognitions and Awards

-Ranked Lawyer, White Collar Crime, Chambers and Partners (Guides 2022-2025).

-Ranked lawyer, White Collar, Leading Partner, The Legal 500 (2022-2024)

-Human Rights Fellow, Columbia University Law School.

-James A. Elkins Prize in Constitutional Law, Columbia University Law School, awarded to the top two students in Constitutional Law .

-Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar for Academic Excellence.

-Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law Achievement Award.

- Distinguished Alumnus Award 2019, Universidad Diego Portales.

Publications

He has diverse academic publications such us the following:

- "Methodologies for the Investigation, Search, and Attention to Victims. From the Ayotzinapa case to new mechanisms in the fight against impunity," which he co-authored with Carlos M Beristain, Ángela Buitrago and Alejandro Valencia. Editorial Temis, 2017.

- "Considerations on the validity of the principle of trust in accusations in the heart of a company," published in Theory of Crime in Economic Criminal Law Practice, Madrid, 2012.

-Human Rights Clinics: the Chilean experience." Published in Human Rights Clinics: An Alternative for Legal Education and Society, Supreme Court of Justice and the Free School of Law, Mexico City, 2011,

"International Obligations of the State Regarding Official Misconduct: An Inter-American Perspective," Fundación Mack, Guatemala.

"Negotiation in the New Criminal Procedure" in Revista de Derecho – Universidad Católica de Temuco, Issue III, 2002.

Languages Spoken

Spanish/English

Experience

His academic career includes the following positions:

-Professor of Public Interest Law, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile.

-Professor of Public Interest and Human Rights Clinics, Universidad Diego Portales.

-Professor of International Human Rights Law, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile

-Professor of Negotiation in the New Criminal Procedure.