Eugene F. Hestres-Velez

Eugene F. Hestres Vlez was born in Puerto Rico, on October 25, 1950. Mr. Hestres-Vlez obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Puerto Rico in 1972 and a Juris Doctor, also Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Puerto Rico in 1975.

He was admitted to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico bars in 1975; to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in 1976; was admitted in 1979 to the U.S. Supreme Court; and in 1995 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Mr. Hestres-Vlez was qualified as Proctor in Admiralty of the Maritime Law Association of the United States in 1978, was elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1997, and served as State Chair for 2004-2006. Under his chairmanship the first Regional Meeting of the American College of Trial Lawyers outside of the continental United States was held in Puerto Rico. He is also a member and served as Puerto Rico chair of the United States Supreme Court Historical Foundation Society.

He was appointed as a member of the Puerto Rico Board of Bar Examiners by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court from 1989-1996 and from 1999-2001 lectured at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law.

From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Hestres was lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. Since 2002 he has been adjunct professor of law at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law where he lectures on trial matters, Civil and Federal Appellate Procedure and litigation skills. Mr. Hestres-Vlez also participates in the University of Puerto Rico School of Law sponsored Federal Bar and Commonwealth Bar review courses, lectures on continuous education courses for the Puerto Rico Bar sponsored by the University of Puerto Rico School of Law Trust and the Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Ponce. He has also lectured at the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Judicial Academy and the Office of Government Ethics of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and is a frequent guest speaker at law conferences.

For the last four decades he has been actively engaged in the practice of law with emphasis in state and federal litigation. A substantial part of his practice is devoted to the representation of physicians in medical malpractice actions in the various courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, estate and financial and asset protection planning. Mr. Hestres-Vlez has ample experience in the corporate field, litigation and appellate practice, both at the Commonwealth as well as the federal level, and has held positions in several boards of directors of major corporations in Puerto Rico. He is a founding member and currently the Principal of BBH LLC.