LEX PETROLEA - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Founding Director of the Transnational Petroleum Law Institute

Dr. Alfredo De Jesús O., is a Founding Director of the Transnational Petroleum Law Institute and is based in Paris, France. He is a dual qualified French/Venezuelan attorney practicing from Paris and Caracas specializing in transnational arbitration, litigation and business law with a particular focus in the oil and gas and extractive industries. He has represented and advised corporations, States and state-owned entities, in a variety of commercial Dr. De Jesús O., earned his Ph.D. Summa cum laude in Transnational Law and Arbitration from the Sorbonne University (Paris II), holds two Master's Degrees, one on General Private Law and the other on Commercial and Economic Law from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) and the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) respectively, and graduated with honours from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas. Dr. De Jesús O., is an Associate Member of the CREDIMI - Centre de recherche sur le droit des marchés et des investissements internationaux (CNRS/University of Burgundy) and an Adjunct Professor of "Transnational Petroleum Law" in the Master in International Business Law at the University of Paris XI (Paris-Sud) and of "Theory of Transnational Arbitration" in the Master in Arbitration and International Business Law at the University of Versailles. He has also taught Transnational Petroleum Law as a Guest Lecturer at the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Center - EENR Center - of the University of Houston, at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mining Law and Policy - CEPMLP - of the University of Dundee and in the Master in International Energy of the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). ​ Dr. De Jesús O., is a Member of the Board of Directors and Representative in France of the French-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, an Associate Member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, a Member of the ICC Latin American Arbitration Group, a Representative for Latin America of the LCIA YIAG, a Member of the Peer Review Board of the ICSID Review - Foreign Investment Law Journal, the Venezuelan Reporter of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration and the Founder and Deputy Secretary General of the Venezuelan Arbitration Committee. He is Member of the Steering Committee of the Groupe de Beaune

Job Titles:

• Founding Director of the Transnational Petroleum Institute
• Visiting Assistant Professor

Julián Cárdenas is a founding Director of the Transnational Petroleum Institute and is based in Houston. He is a Venezuelan attorney and Doctoral Fellow at the Centre de recherche sur le droit des marchés et des investissements internationaux (CREDIMI/CNRS) of the University of Burgundy, Dijon, France. Prior this position he served as career diplomat at the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs working on sovereign boundary and multilateral Prof. Cárdenas is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor, Andrews Kurth Energy Law Scholar, at the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Center - EENR Center- of the University of Houston Law Center, where he teaches the courses Transnational Petroleum Law in Latin America (Spring) and International Investment Law (Fall).