José Miguel Vivanco is a Partner at DGA Group and is based in Washington D.C. He specializes in conflict and crisis management, counseling around investigations, litigation strategy and dispute resolution.

Mr. Vivanco brings over three decades of experience in high-stakes environments when advising governments, global business leader and boards on labor practices, human rights and risk management. As the former Americas Director of Human Rights Watch, he led pivotal negotiations, engaged with heads of state, parliaments and business leaders, and conducted investigations and advocacy missions on critical human rights issues. His thought leadership has been widely recognized, with publications in major outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Financial Times, El País and others.

Before joining DGA Group, Mr. Vivanco founded the Center for Justice and International Law, where he provided legal representation in the inter-American system. As an attorney and executive secretariat at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS), he successfully represented the Commission in the first litigation before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, securing a landmark judgment on forced disappearances as a crime against humanity.

Mr. Vivanco holds a J.D. from the University of Chile Law School, an M.A. from Salamanca Law School and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, the OAS and other international bodies. He has also lectured at prestigious institutions, including Harvard Law School, Yale University, Stanford Law School and Oxford University.