Karima Sauma is a Costa Rican lawyer who specializes in arbitration. She has acted as co-counsel, advisor, legal expert, arbitrator and tribunal secretary in a variety of arbitration proceedings. She is currently the Executive Director of the International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration of the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (CICA-AmCham Costa Rica). In addition, she is professor of Arbitration courses at ULACIT University and Academic Director of the CICA-ULACIT Arbitration Specialization Program.
Previously, she was an advisor at the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Trade, where she was part of Costa Rica's defense team in international arbitration cases filed under international investment agreements and free trade agreements. Prior to joining the Ministry's team, she worked as part of the International Arbitration Group of a global firm at their offices in Washington, DC.
Karima obtained her law degree with honors from the University of Costa Rica and an LLM from Columbia University in New York, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She is currently admitted to practice law in Costa Rica and in the State of New York.
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2020 – to date
LEAD University
Professor of “Arbitration” course in Corporate Law Master’s Degree
2017 – to date
ULACIT University
Academic Director of “Especialización en Arbitraje CICA-ULACIT” and professor of “International Investment Arbitration” course; professor of “Arbitration” course in JD Program
- Young ITA Mentorship Program Chair, Institute for Transnational Arbitration (2019-to date)
- Co-representative for Costa Rica, Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (2018-to date)
- Reporter for Costa Rica, International Arbitration Bulletin (2018-to date)
- Regional Chair for Mexico and Central America, Institute for Transnational Arbitration (2017-2019)
- Contributing Member, Fundación Paniamor (2018-to date)
- Member, Board of Directors, Costa Rican International Law Association (2009-2012)
- Member, Board of Directors, Costa Rican Demographic Association (2009-2012)
- Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) Advisory Board
- Costa Rican International Law Association
- ICC Young Arbitrators Forum
- ICDR Young & International
- “Robot arbitrators? Stranger than Fiction”, in “Arbitration and Technology”, Chipana and Duarte (eds.), 2021.
- “Foreign Investment and Investment Arbitration in Costa Rica”, in “Foreign Investment and Investment Arbitration in Latin America”, C. Esplugues Mota (ed.), Editorial Tirant Lo Blanch, Valencia, 2019.
- “David Aven et al versus Costa Rica”, Latin American Commercial and Investment Arbitration Bulletin, Year IV | Number 44, 18 October 2018.
- “Pura Vida: From Costa Rica to the World” (co-author F. Castro), Markets and Trends Magazine, August 2018.
- “CAFTA-DR: The Experience under Chapter 10”, Transnational Dispute Management 5 (2016), Latin America, Volume 13, Issue #05, November 2016.
- “Transparency and Chapter 10 of CAFTA-DR” (co-authors A. González and A. Arce), ACODI, Costa Rican Magazine of International Law, V Edition, II Semester 2016.
- “The Possibility of Costa Rican Nonprofit Organizations of Gaining Access to the Dispute Resolution Mechanisms of International Investment Law”, University of Costa Rica, 2011.
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