Jorge Luis Esquirol, S.J.D., is professor of law at Florida International University.
Before joining the College of Law at Florida International University, Professor Esquirol was a professor of law at the Northeastern University School of Law from 1997–2002 and director of academic affairs at the Harvard Law School Graduate Program from 1992–1997. He was the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Law for the 2015–16 academic year at the University of Trento in Trento, Italy. He has also been a visiting research professor at the Watson Institute at Brown University, visiting professor at the University of Miami School of Law and the University of Denver College of Law, a resident scholar at the Université de Paris X (Nanterre), France, and a visiting researcher at the Constitutional Court of Colombia. In 2024 he was named affiliate professor at the Sciences Po Law School in Paris, France.
Professor Esquirol earned his J.D. and S.J.D. degrees from Harvard Law School and his B.A. in finance (summa cum laude) from Georgetown University. He clerked on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and was an associate attorney at the Wall Street firm of Shearman and Sterling. Professor Esquirol is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. He teaches commercial law, comparative law, and international trade law at FIU.
Selected Publications
English Language Publications
Presumptions and Burdens of Land Restitution in Colombia, 31 JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS (Winter 2021)
Credit Supports for Italian Specialty Products: The Case of Prosciutto and Long Aged Cheese, 14:3 FIU LAW REVIEW 589 (2021)
RULING THE LAW: LEGITIMACY AND FAILURE IN LATIN AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEMS. Cambridge University Press. (2020)
The Geopolitics of Constitutionalism in Latin America, in Constitutionalism in the Americas, Studies in Comparative Law and Legal Culture Series, edited by Colin Crawford and Daniel Bonilla Maldonado, Edward Elgar Press. (February 2018)
Formalizing Property in Latin America, in COMPARATIVE PROPERTY LAW (Lionel Smith (McGill) and Michele Graziadei (Torino) eds., Edward Elgar Press. (2017)
Legal Latin Americanism, 16 YALE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT LAW JOURNAL 145 (2013)
Latin America, in OXFORD HANDBOOK OF THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (Oxford U. Press), 2012 (solicited chapter, peer-reviewed)
Writing the Law of Latin America, 40 GEORGE WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW 693 (2009)
Titling and Untitled Housing in Panama City, 4:2 TENNESSEE JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY 243 (2008)
The Failed Law of Latin America, 56 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW 75 (2008) (peer-reviewed)
Alejandro Álvarez's Latin American Law: A Question of Identity, 19 LEIDEN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 931 (2006) (peer-reviewed)
Continuing Fictions of Latin American Law, 55 FLORIDA LAW REVIEW 31 (2003)
Where is Latin America Headed? A Critique of the Sociolegal Approach to Latin America, 9 BEYOND LAW 115 (2003) (English translation of ¿Hacia dónde va Latinoamérica?)
At the Head of the Legal Family: René David, Chapter 8 in RE-THINKING THE MASTERS OF COMPARATIVE LAW, Hart Publishing, ed. by Annelise Riles, Northwestern University School of Law (2001)
Can International Law Help? An Analysis of the Colombian Peace Process, 16 CONNECTICUT JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 23–93 (2000)
Negotiating Colombia's Peace Process: Disagreements of International Law, 13 LEIDEN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 495 (2000) (peer-reviewed)
The Fictions of Latin American Law, 1997 UTAH LAW REVIEW 425 (Fall 1997)
Foreign Investment: Revision of the Andean Foreign Investment Code, 29 HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 169 (1988)
Foreign Language Publications
La légitimité comparée: les réformes proposées par la Commission de réflexion sur la Cour de cassation 2030. CAHIERS DE JUSTICE #2022/4, 595-611. In French
La culture de la critique aux États-Unis, ARCHIVES DE PHILOSOPHIE DU DROIT 63 (2022), 477-97 (France 2022). In French.
Les outils juridiques de la politique économique: L’exemple de la réforme des sûretés en France, REVUE DES JURISTES DE SCIENCES PO (France 2022). In French.
Le strategie intellettuali dell'analisi critica, RIVISTA CRITICA DEL DIRITTO PRIVATO,
Anno XXXIX – 2, Italy (June 2021). In Italian.
Il regime della proprietà come strumento della giustizia transizionale, in RIVISTA
CRITICA DEL DIRITTO PRIVATO, Anno XXXVII -4 (2019). In Italian.
Zonas Econômicas Agroindustriais: Combinando o Desenvolvimento Econômico e a Reforma Agrária na Colômbia, in Propriedades em Transformação, edited by Débora Ungaretti, Marília Rolemberg Lessa, Diogo R. Coutinho, Flávio Marques Prol, Iagê Zendron Miola, Tomaso Ferrando, Brazil. (August 2018) (in Portuguese)
La Proprietà in America Latina fra Titolarità e Informalità, in Rivista Critica del Diritto Privato, Anno XXXIV-4 (Italy) (Dicembre 2016) (in Italian)
FICÇÕES DO DIREITO LATINOAMERICANO (Saraiva Editores, Brazil) (April 2016) (in Portuguese)
LAS FICCIONES DEL DERECHO LATINOAMERICANO, Universidad de los Andes, Siglo del Hombre Editores, Bogotá, Colombia (2014)
El derecho fallido de América Latina, Spanish translation of The Failed Law of Latin America, forthcoming in Legis, Bogotá, Colombia
O direito fracassado da América Latina. Portuguese translation of The Failed Law of Latin America, in REVISTA DA FACULDADE DE DIREITO DA UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO, São Paulo, Brazil (2011)
Constructing Latin America's Failed Legal Tradition, forthcoming in RIVISTA CRITICA DEL DIRITTO PRIVATO, Italy, 2009
La critique du droit des années 70 aux États-Unis, forthcoming in DROIT ET SOCIETE: REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE THEORIE DU DROIT ET DE SOCIOLOGIE JURIDIQUE, France 2009 (original in French)
¿Hacia dónde va Latinoamérica? Una crítica al enfoque sociojurídico sobre América Latina, in Mauricio García Villegas and César A. Rodríguez, eds., DERECHO Y SOCIEDAD EN AMÉRICA LATINA: UN DEBATE SOBRE LOS ESTUDIOS JURÍDICOS CRÍTICOS. ILSA (2003)(original in Spanish)
El proceso de paz: Conforme al derecho internacional, in EL DERECHO COMO LA CONTINUACIÓN DEL CONFLICTO Y EL LENGUAJE DE LA PAZ. Plaza & Janes Editores: Bogotá, Colombia (1999) (Received Best Book Award by the Bogotá Book Chamber of Commerce in the area of Law and Social Sciences, 2000) (original in Spanish)
Work in Progress:
Bringing More Legal Theory to Comparative Law (working title), forthcoming.