Interview with New Honorary Partner Julio César Rivera

MARVAL NEWS

Julio, you are close to the 50^th anniversary of your career, so your experience is very interesting for the younger lawyers in our firm as you have held many different positions throughout your professional life. For that reason we are here today with you: we would like to hear about the highlights of your extensive career.

To begin with, please tell us some information about your university degree and subsequent academic career.

JULIO CÉSAR RIVERA

I graduated from the Universidad del Salvador Law School in 1970. This law school brought together an exceptional body of professors. My civil law professors were Borda, Llambías, Spota (a lawyer and engineer, he had both degrees signed the same day by then Dean of the Universidad de Buenos Aires Ricardo Rojas, when he was only 21!); Alsina Atienza of whose graduation thesis George Ripert said that this PhD student had a knowledge of French law as vast as his own; and finally Alberto Molinario, father of Alberto Domingo Quintín Molinario, an outstanding former partner of this firm, who was to have a decisive influence on my training. And my other professors were Caramés Ferro, Fontán Balestra, Bidart Campos, Alegría, etc., etc.

MN: How did Professor Molinario influence you?

JCR: When I graduated, in addition to starting to work as a lawyer on my own, with all the limitations and difficulties that this implies, it was very clear to me that I wanted to teach and certainly teach civil law. So, since I had been quite a good student, I quickly joined the chair of Dr Borda at the Universidad del Salvador and competed to start a teaching career in the chair of Dr Molinario at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, more specifically in property law. I remained in that chair for 12 years. With both Borda and Molinario I developed an excellent relationship that lasted throughout their lives. And I often wonder who had the strongest influence on me, if Borda for whom “the law is what judges say it is,” or if it was Molinario, who had an immense respect for the law and ruled out lax interpretations. But in any case, both have been very important for my academic life and I hold very warm memories and an immense gratitude for everything I learned from them.

MN: You also spent some time at the judiciary.

JCR: Correct, 1973 was the year when 10 commercial courts were created, and Atilio Aníbal Alterini was appointed a judge at one of them. He offered me to join as his Secretary. It was an important step, not only because within a few years I moved fast in the profession and became a First Instance and then a Court of Appeals judge, but also because it opened up my mind and showed me a side of private law of which many civil lawyers have only the remotest notion. From that moment on I had one eye on civil law and the other on commercial law.

MN: What was your next move?

JCR: In 1985 the situation of the judiciary was quite difficult: salaries were very low, so much so that many judges brought claims to have them adjusted. Moreover, I was already a Court of Appeals judge; namely, I had reached the ceiling of my career in the judiciary at only 37. So when I received an invitation from Dr. Alegría to join his firm, I responded yes almost immediately.

And there I learned to be a "lawyer." I always remember that once, after a meeting with clients in which I must have been very assertive, Dr. Alegría told me "Julio, now judgments are made by others...". It was an exceptional period of great professional growth. We had very important issues, big clients, and great challenges.

Finally in 1993 I set up my own firm, which became a boutique law firm of certain prestige I believe.

MN: But in addition to your professional work you never abandoned academia.

JCR: I have always believed that academia and professional life are not only compatible but also complement and enrich each other. Many great lawyers have been important academics: Mairal, Alegría, Fargosi, Alterini, Le Pera...to name but a few.

I have turned this academic activity into numerous books, among them perhaps the most widely known are Civil Law Institutions General Part with its seven editions, Bankruptcy Law Institutions and Domestic and International Commercial Arbitration; and about 250 articles published in Argentina and in many other countries. I have also contributed to multiple activities in institutions such as the National Academy of Law of Buenos Aires, the Argentine Association of Comparative Law, the International Academy of Comparative Law and others.

MN: You have also been a legislator.

JCR: Not quite a legislator, because I was never a representative or senator, but I had the opportunity to collaborate on different bills, some of which became law, including Competition Law No. 24,522, its amendment by Law No. 25,589, the Trust and Leasing Law No. 24,441, the International Arbitration Law; and I have also participated in several projects to amend the Civil Code.

It is a thankless task:  all the professors criticize what they do not like about each text and almost never say what is good about them.

MN: Another role you have played and continue to play is arbitrator. What can you tell us about this?

JCR: Arbitration is one of the most interesting environments in which I have to act, because as a general rule disputes are important and complex, and it is where you meet the best lawyers. In addition, written and oral procedures are combined - the hearing is usually very important - and there are practices brought from other systems such as discovery. I have also acted as a party lawyer in arbitrations, which is always very demanding.

MN: And what was it like to join Marval?

JCR: It is certainly curious that at the end of my professional career I have joined an organization as large and sophisticated as Marval. But there are no secrets to this: we knew that Marval grew over the years by bringing in teams from other firms, and that this has been a long and successful policy, since it has led to Marval becoming the most important firm in the Argentine market. So we could not let the possibility of being part of an organization of great prestige pass us by, especially when we personally knew many of its partners and had a very good relationship with them.

MN: A few months have passed since joining, how do you feel about it now?

JCR: Very, very happy; not only because the colleagues are extremely cordial and have made me feel very comfortable, but because I have ratified what I sensed; that is, each team is of an exceptional professional quality. Of course I already knew several of Marval’s partners and knew about their professional excellence, but I have been favorably impressed by every professional – whether partner or not - in all the areas that I have worked with.

MN: After fifty years as a lawyer, what advice would you give to younger lawyers?

JCR: Hmmm, let me think. First, study foreign languages, not only English, which today is the lingua franca of our profession, but also some other language, French, German, Italian, whichever you like best. Each language you learn is a window opening in your head, allowing you to better understand other ways of thinking and acting, and it also opens up new and different professional possibilities.
Second, never stop studying; the law is learned in only one way, by studying; there is no Mozart in the law, even Savigny and Kelsen had to go to college and burn the midnight oil reading; and even more so today when everything changes at breakneck speed. And one more thing, be willing to learn from anyone: the student sitting in the last row, who always looks half-asleep might ask a question or make a comment that shows a side to an issue which we were not aware of. Clients are a never-ending source of information because they are the ones who have the actual problems and have analyzed them before us; a young lawyer may have a fresh idea or argument that we had not noticed.