Prieto Abogados

With deep regret we announce the passing away of our founding partner Claudio Undurraga Abbott

Claudio Undurraga was an exceptional, loyal, professional, cheerful, hard-working and loving man. He practiced the legal profession for 57 years. He studied law at Pontificia Universidad Católica (1965), then worked as an associate lawyer at Walker, Eyzaguirre y Prieto, then as in-house counsel at Esso Standard Oil Chile and partner at Claro y Cía. until 1976.

In 1977, together with Patricio Prieto, Carlos Concha and Alberto González, he founded Prieto y Cia, today Prieto, law firm in which he was author and witness of its growth and consolidation during these 45 years. Widely recognized and admired in the legal industry, he led outstanding teams in different areas such as Arbitration, Energy and Natural Resources, Projects and Infrastructure, Capital Markets, Antitrust and Telecommunications. He played an active role in the formation of several generations of lawyers who work at Prieto today, he gave his experience and knowledge for more than four decades.

In the 80’s, he participated in the intervention of banks, defending the shareholders and directors of “Banco de Santiago” and “Colocadora Nacional de Valores”. In 1987 he defended INFORSA, the second largest forestry company in Chile, in the bankruptcy petition filed by the Banco Exterior de España.

Subsequently, in the telecommunications field, he was legal advisor in the privatisation of Entel and CTC, of which he was also director. In addition, he participated in one of the first relevant trials of the Chilean Antitrust Court, in the case of long distance services.

Continuing with his career, he was also a recognised arbitrator in several proceedings handled through the Arbitration and Mediation Centre of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce, in matters related to energy, banking, construction, IT, gas and fuel disputes.

He was also a prominent lawyer in the area of Energy and Natural Resources, specifically in the natural gas industry.

From the beginning of his carreer he was active in Probono matters, especially in cases of the Chilean Probono Foundation, where the firm has been member for more than 20 years. 

At the international field, he was distinguished for years by Chambers and Partners as Senior Statesperson, in the areas of Energy and Natural Resources and Projects and Infrastructure. For more than 30 years he was an active member in the International Bar Association (IBA), he was Chairman of the Latin American Regional Forum and Officer of the Professional Ethics Committee. Claudio Undurraga made great friends at this association of lawyers. Today we would like to thank him for his loyalty, his joy, his dedication to the Firm, to each lawyer and collaborator. We would like to highlight his trajectory, friendship, generosity and collaboration throughout all these years. We will miss his conversation, his companionship, his opinion, his advice, his good judgement. We are deeply sorry for the passing of Claudio Undurraga and our thoughts are with his family at this moment.