José Angelo Estrella-Faria

José Angelo Estrella Faria is Principal Legal Officer and Head of the Legislative Branch of the International Trade Law Division, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (Vienna), which functions as substantive secretariat for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

From 1 October 2008 to 31 July 2017 he was the Secretary-General of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit) and, as such, in charge of supervising all the staff and projects of Unidroit, an independent intergovernmental organization devoted to the unification and harmonization of private law worldwide. 

Before his appointment to Unidroit, Mr. Faria had worked at the secretariat of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) from 1996 to 2008. As secretary to the relevant intergovernmental working groups, he was responsible for UNCITRAL work on privately financed infrastructure projects and electronic commerce. He also supervised the work of Working Group III (Transport Law) between 2005 and 2008.

            Mr Faria served at the General Legal Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, in New York (1992-1996). He had worked before as an attorney in Brazil, specialising in commercial and trade law matters.

He has published various articles and books on legal harmonisation, commercial law and international law. Mr Faria graduated from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and holds a Masters on European Law from the Europa Institut der Universität des Saarlandes (Saarbrücken, Germany). He has lectured at various universities and is a honorary professor of the  University of International Business and  Economics, China.

EDUCATION: Europa Institut der Universitat des Saarlandes, Germany, M.A.; Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, J.D