Mary Fernández

Founding partner of Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fernández, Dominican Republic.  The Firm was founded in 1985 and has been recognized as Law Firm of the Year by IFLR and by Chambers & Partners Latin America.

Mary is National Ambassador of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Intellectual Property representing the Dominican Republic. She is arbiter and President of the Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration Committee of the Asociación Interamericana de Propiedad Intelectual (ASIPI). Judge of the Disciplinary Panel of the ASIPI. Member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Production of Santo Domingo, Inc. (CCPSD).  Past president of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAMDR) and past Chair of its Legal Committee. Editor for the Dominican Republic of the “International Opposition Guide” of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and, member of the editorial committee of Gaceta Judicial, the only legal periodical in the country. Past President of the Board of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC). Mary is past president of the Asociación Dominicana de Propiedad Intelectual, Inc. (ADOPI), of Fundación Institucionalidad y Justicia, Inc. (FINJUS) and past Chair of the Latin American Council of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA).

She specializes in corporate and business law, banking law, agency and distribution law, foreign investment, intellectual property, arbitration, and trusts and estates.  Her professional practice has been recognized and ranked in Band 1 by Chambers Global 2020 and Chambers Latin America 2021 in Corporate/Commercial and in Intellectual Property. She is recommended by Latin Lawyer 250 2020. She is also recommended by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA) for Corporate/M&A in 2022. She teaches intellectual property for a Master´s Program on Intellectual Property at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PCUMM).

Mary is Dominican, studied law at the Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), where she graduated summa cum laude in 1979. Immediately after, 1979-80, she attended postgraduate courses in Political Science and International Relations at Georgia State University. She has an LLM in Intellectual Property from the University of Illinois, in Chicago, USA. She graduated in 2016, with honors.  She speaks Spanish and English.