Marco Molina
I am an international trade and investment lawyer with more than 30 years of experience on every side of the table: negotiating treaties for the Government of Guatemala, defending industry as executive director of two private sector associations, representing my country at the WTO for twenty years, and deciding disputes as a WTO panelist.
I founded Molina & Associates to put that experience at the service of governments, companies and trade associations. I lead every mandate personally and, when a matter calls for it, bring in trusted specialists from my network.
My full background is set out in my CV.
MY HISTORY
My career in international trade and investment law began in 1996 at Guatemala’s Ministry of Economy, where I was part of the first team dedicated to investment matters. I negotiated bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and advised foreign investors looking to set up operations in Guatemala. I then moved to the Trade Negotiations Directorate as negotiator and legal adviser, where I negotiated the dispute settlement provisions of investment treaties and free trade agreements, covering both investor-State and State-State mechanisms.
In 2001, I moved to the other side of the table. Until 2004, I was Executive Director of two private sector associations, the Association of Manufacturers of Agrochemical Products and the Association of Manufacturers of Pharmaceutical Products. I represented their members before Congress, government agencies and civil society, particularly on intellectual property and test data protection, and acted as their spokesperson.
Over the same period, I advised the Chamber of Industry, the Association of Exporters of Non-Traditional Products (AGEXPORT) and the Commission of Exporters of Apparel and Textiles (VESTEX), including on their strategies for the free trade negotiations with Canada and the United States. I also ran a private law practice covering administrative, commercial, intellectual property, government procurement, investment and constitutional law, including litigation and arbitration in Guatemala.
In 2002 and 2003, I designed and taught courses on trade law and negotiations at Universidad Rafael Landívar and Universidad del Istmo in Guatemala City.
In 2004, I joined the Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as Legal Counsellor, the start of twenty years at the Mission. In 2008, I was promoted to Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR), a post I held until February 2024.
As DPR, I led the Mission’s substantive work and represented Guatemala in multilateral negotiations, including the Bananas Agreement, the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA). I also advised on WTO disputes, regional trade agreements and ICSID proceedings.
Litigation became a central part of my work. I have taken part in more than 50 WTO disputes, as lead counsel, government representative or panelist, as well as in bilateral and regional cases.
WTO Members then chose me by acclamation as Facilitator of the dispute settlement reform process. I introduced an interest-based approach to the negotiations, which moved the discussions forward within a year, and drew on other dispute resolution systems, such as ICSID, UNCITRAL and free trade agreement mechanisms, to develop concrete reform proposals.
RECOGNITION AND PUBLICATIONS
I am a member of the Pool of External Counsel of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL), and served as Vice-Chair of its General Assembly from 2014 to 2024. For 2026–2028, I am on the WTO roster of experts established under Article 27.2 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). I am a member of the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG) and have served on the Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Trade and Labour Programme. In 2025, I was a visiting lecturer on dispute settlement and trade remedies at the Université Catholique de Lyon.
My publications include Practical Aspects of WTO Litigation (editor), Kluwer Law International (2020); “The Dispute Settlement Reform Discussions: A New Approach”, in Reckoning and Renewal: The World Trade Organization and Its Dispute Settlement System at 30, University of Toronto Press (2025); and “Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms at the World Trade Organization: Insights on Current Developments”, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Oxford University Press (2026).
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
I hold a law degree from Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala City and a Master’s in International Studies, with a specialization in International Law, from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
Today, I bring this experience in government, industry, negotiation and litigation to the clients of Molina & Associates.