Cristóbal Caviedes successfully defended his PhD thesis in January 2020 and will convocate in Spring 2020.
Cristóbal is a PhD candidate and international constitutional law researcher at Queen's Law, with the provisional thesis title "On Constitutional Courts’ Voting Rules". He has several publications to his credit, including ones in the American Journal of Jurisprudence and Ius et Praxis.
1. ‘Chang’s Parity: An Alternative Way to Challenge Balancing’ (2017) 62(1) American Journal of Jurisprudence 165.
2. ‘Nueva Guia de Control de Fusiones: Lo Positivo, Lo que Falta y Lo que Solo el Legislador puede Resolver’ (2014) 20(2) Ius et Praxis 357 [‘Merger Control Procedures and the New Merger Analysis Guide: What is Positive, What is Missing, and the Things only the Legislator can Resolve’]
Cristóbal has also presented at several conferences. He presented a chapter of his PhD thesis ‘Is Majority Rule Justified in Constitutional Courts?’ at the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) Conference 2018 in Hong Kong. He also presented another chapter of his PhD thesis ‘A Brief History of Voting Rules in Western Civilisation’ at McGill University‘s 2018 Graduate Law Conference in Montreal, Canada.
For his PhD studies Cristóbal has received the Becas Chile Scholarship. He also received an Ontario Graduate Scholarship for International students in 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, following a recent collusion scandal, Cristóbal was invited as an expert witness to the Chilean Senate’s Economics Committee to comment on a proposed governmental bill to reform the Chilean Competition Act. Based on his research, Cristóbal made suggestions on how to improve the reforms proposed to the Chilean merger control system. The bill was passed by the Senate on July 2016 and then enacted as a law of the republic in August 2016. Many of the suggestions made by Cristóbal during the committee hearings were incorporated to the final text. From 2013 to 2014, while at Diego Portales University, Cristóbal worked in a research project aimed at drafting a model statute for the regulation of assisted reproduction techniques in Chile. This model statute served as basis for the Chilean Ministry of Health’s official guidelines on infertility treatment—which are mandatory for Chilean public health services. Cristóbal is a Senior Teaching Fellow, Diego Portales University since 2013.He was an Associate Attorney at Pinochet, Zenteno y Guzmán Abogados (‘Pinochet, Zenteno y Guzmán Attorneys’) from 2011 to 2014 and in 2010 he was an Attorney at Desafío Levantemos Chile, a charity created to help the 2010 earthquake victims in Chile.
Recent Achievements
Featured Conference Presentations
1. Presentation of PhD thesis chapter ‘Is Majority Rule Justified in Constitutional Courts?’ at the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) Conference 2018 in Hong Kong.
2. Presentation of PhD thesis chapter ‘A Brief History of Voting Rules in Western Civilisation’ at McGill University ‘s 2018 Graduate Law Conference in Montreal, Canada.
Featured Publication
1. ‘Chang’s Parity: An Alternative Way to Challenge Balancing’ (2017) 62(1) American Journal of Jurisprudence 165.
2. ‘Nueva Guia de Control de Fusiones: Lo Positivo, Lo que Falta y Lo que Solo el Legislador puede Resolver’ (2014) 20(2) Ius et Praxis 357 [‘Merger Control Procedures and the New Merger Analysis Guide: What is Positive, What is Missing, and the Things only the Legislator can Resolve’]
Most Recent/Current Job
1. Senior Teaching Fellow, Diego Portales University Faculty of Law (since 2013)
2. Associate Attorney at Pinochet, Zenteno y Guzmán Abogados (‘Pinochet, Zenteno y Guzmán Attorneys’) (2011-2014)
3. Attorney at Desafío Levantemos Chile, a charity created to help the 2010 earthquake victims in Chile (2010).
Most Recent Graduate Degree
Master of Laws (LLM) with Distinction (First Class Honours), University College London (UCL) (2014-2015)
Awards (Obtained During PhD)
1. Becas Chile Scholarship (2017-2019)
2. Ontario Graduate Scholarship for International Students (2017-2018)
3. Ontario Graduate Scholarship for International Students (2016-2017)
Additional Important Achievements
1. In 2016, following a recent collusion scandal, Cristóbal was invited as an expert witness to the Chilean Senate’s Economics Committee to comment on a proposed governmental bill to reform the Chilean Competition Act. Based on his research, Cristóbal made suggestions on how to improve the reforms proposed to the Chilean merger control system. The bill was passed by the Senate on July 2016 and then enacted as a law of the republic in August 2016. Many of the suggestions made by Cristóbal during the committee hearings were incorporated to the final text.
2. From 2013 to 2014, while at Diego Portales University, Cristóbal worked in a research project aimed at drafting a model statute for the regulation of assisted reproduction techniques in Chile. This model statute served as basis for the Chilean Ministry of Health’s official guidelines on infertility treatment—which are mandatory for Chilean public health services.
Research Topic and Research Areas
1. Research Topic: Voting Rules in Constitutional Courts
2. Research Areas: Bioethics, Competition Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Legal and Political Philosophy.