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 has been designated National Ambassador of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Intellectual Property representing the Dominican Republic. She is presently Chair of the Latin American Council of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA). 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. Arbiter and member of the Board of the Center for Resolution of Controversies (CRC) 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 Presdient and present member of the Board of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC). Mary is past president of the Asociación Dominicana de Propiedad Intelectual, Inc. (ADOPI) and of Fundación Institucionalidad y Justicia, Inc. (FINJUS).

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 and Chambers Latin America 2018 in Corporate/Commercial and in Intellectual Property. She is recommended by Latin Lawyer 250 2018. She is also recommended by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA) for Corporate/M&A in 2018. She presently 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 John Marshall Law School of Chicago, Illinois. She graduated in 2016, with honors. She speaks Spanish and English.