Carolina Velaz Rivero

Carolina Velaz Rivero is a member at Marini Pietrantoni Muñiz LLC in San Juan, P.R., and co-chairs its Bankruptcy & Insolvency Practice. She concentrates her practice in all aspects of distressed situations and bankruptcy, representing institutional lenders, strategic investors, special-situation funds and other stakeholders in in-court and out-of-court restructurings, bankruptcy and litigation matters. She is also involved in complex commercial litigation, including the defense of lender-liability suits and contract litigation. Ms. Rivero represents financial institutions, private-equity funds, purchasers of distressed debt, and secured and unsecured creditors, and she regularly lectures on federal jurisdiction and insolvency and bankruptcy matters. She was a 2018 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree and has been a member of ABI’s International Caribbean Insolvency Symposium Advisory Board since 2022. Ms. Rivero is the immediate past president of the Federal Bar Association’s Hon. Raymond L. Acosta Puerto Rico Chapter and the current vice president for the First Circuit as part of the national Federal Bar Association. In 2024, she was inducted to the 2024 Fellows Class of the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association. Ms.Rivero is a board member of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Concursal, as well as a member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and the Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Bar. She has been ranked by Chambers and Partners Latin American Guide from 2020-25 as a leader in Dispute Resolution: Bankruptcy, and she has been recognized by Legal 500 as a “Next Generation Partner” since 2022. In addition, she has been ranked by The Best Lawyers in America’s Puerto Rico edition since 2021. Ms. Rivero received her Bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College and her J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico, where she was an assistant editor of the University of Puerto Rico Law Journal.