Andres Chaves Sanz on the International Paper Trail

November 2007

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Andres Chaves Sanz epitomizes the Latin influence at Miami's School of Law. Currently a second year student, Andres began his higher education at the United States Military Academy. Traditionally at West Point, like other military academies, cadets commit to serving the United States as military officers after graduation. For Andres and the few other foreign nationals who serve as cadets, their commitment following graduation is to the military of their home countries.

Andres learned of his acceptance into West Point as a high school student in Colombia, and he fully expected to one day return to Colombia as a military officer. Due to wrangling within the Colombian military, Andres's expectations were thwarted. His opportunity to join the Colombian military was contingent upon his willingness to restart his military career without an officer's commission. The foregone chance to entice a West Point trained officer back to Colombia led Andres to a new path in life - a path that eventually led him to the University of Miami School of Law.

Now at age 32, Andres is half way toward a Juris Doctorate. The path Andres followed between West Point and UM Law passed through the International Paper Company. His experience at International Paper involved finance, international sales and marketing, primarily directed toward Latin America. After seven years of employment for International Paper, working mainly out of Miami, bureaucratic obstacles at the Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency finally gave way to a green card. As many students of Immigration Law understand, a green card is the common name for a United States Permanent Resident Card, an identification document issued by the government to non-citizens that affects the right work in the United States. With rising star status at International Paper and a green card in hand, Andres soon accepted a promotion that required him to relocate to Memphis, Tennessee.

As a permanent resident, Andres became eligible for student loan opportunities, making further higher education a viable option. In the Fall of 2006 Andres joined the UM Law community. He left International Paper on good terms, and soon after entering UM Law his path led back to familiar ground when Andres signed on with International Paper as a legal intern.

Here the nexus between Andres's experience before and during law school becomes clear. Miami Law alumna Maura A. Smith (who happens to be the first ever female Rhode Scholar) is Senior Vice President and General Counsel for International Paper. With the Miami Law connection and his experience working for the company prior to law school, Andres had a solid advantage for his internship at the company.

Andres points out that one of the principle challenges for any large company is the divide between the company in general and its in-house attorneys. Attorneys must wear different hats for different roles in their jobs, and Andres's experience on the business side of the operation helped him bridge that divide. During his internship at International Paper, Andres was assigned to draft a memorandum on the legal implications for transferring sensitive employee data from Spain to other nations. With the overlap of labor, employment and international law, Andres found this assignment particularly exciting because his primary academic interest during law school has been International Business Law. He utilized knowledge at International Paper that he gained from his first year elective, European Union Law with Professor Bradley. Andres' fluency in Spanish was also most helpful as the documents were all in Spanish.

Andres was able to use his Spanish language skills to translate (unofficially) the myriad legal documents and communications for the company. He aptly points out that like English legalese, Spanish legal jargon is equally nuanced and subtle. Before graduation Andres would like to gain qualification as a Certified Legal Translator.

With expertise in the paper industry, and growing experience in international business law, one might be surprised to know Andres spent time on some mundane projects as well: gun control and cell phone drivers. Laws vary from state to state as to whether an employee may bring a gun to work (don't think 'going-postal' - think employee safety protected by a handgun in the glove box of a truck in the factory's parking lot). A company like International Paper wants a policy that will at once comply with local law, mitigate risks and augment safety for employees and customers that applies consistently in each state. As an intern for the legal department he was asked to help with this task, as well as similar tasks concerning use of mobile phones while employees drive vehicles. Developing the use of policies, 'best practices' and waivers to govern the use of mobile phones by employees while driving challenged Andres again to research state law from more than 50 jurisdictions.

Using his knowledge from Contracts class as well as his business experience, Andres was assigned to another interesting project. The global sourcing department - those folks that make sure International Paper procures all the necessary raw material, parts and supplies for manufacturing their products - was constantly executing contracts for sales of goods from outside vendors. Andres helped streamline the contract drafting process so that each new contract no longer would need review by International Paper's in-house lawyers. Instead, the company developed an on-line contract drafting training manual for the global sourcing department.

Of course, working with the house counsel for a corporation involves corporate law, as well. In a complicated series of transactions arising from the divestment of an business interest, a question came up concerning what to make of relocation expenses for former International Paper employees whom would later work for the new entity. The question of which entity would pay the relocation expenses was not specifically addressed in the contract governing the spin-off. While some in-house attorneys were inclined to let International Paper absorb that cost, Andres found clauses in the governing contract that treated similar expenses as payable by the newly created entity, and that treatment ultimately applied to the relocating employees, thanks in part to Andres's input.

Andres's experience so far at UM Law demonstrates the importance of overlapping expertise. No doubt his extensive career at International Paper made him an outstanding candidate at our law school. And of course, he was able to apply his legal training to his internship at IP between 1L and 2L year.

Moving forward, Andres plans to continue developing his expertise in international law through classes such as Business Associations (again with Professor Bradley), Latin American Law, International Sales, Project Development & Finance, and an International Moot Court Workshop.

Andres is the Treasurer of the International Law Society, hopes to represent UM Law in the Jessup International Moot Competition and is a candidate for membership on the Moot Court Board. Nancy Mensch, (J.D.'07) was President of International Law Society at UM during the 2006/7 school year. At the time Andres was a first year student, and Nancy felt confident leaving the club's coffers in Andres's hands. When asked about Andres and her experience working with him as a fellow ILS member, she says, "The best word I can use to describe Andres: professional. He shows it in his manners, his speech and his dress. And he proves how responsible he is; you can trust him to fulfill his promises because he always does."

The cliché goes that one man's loss is another man's gain. We will never know what might have been had the Colombian military welcomed the West Point graduate home as military officer. What we do know is that their loss is certainly our gain.