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. He has successfully navigated institutional and corporate settings, advising a wide range of multinational businesses, governments, and civil society organizations on human and labor rights and geopolitical risk management.

Before joining DGA Group, Mr. Vivanco was Americas Director of Human Rights Watch. He conducted investigations and advocacy on critical issues like free speech, democracy, and the rule of law, primarily throughout Latin America. He led pivotal negotiations, bringing together heads of state, parliamentarians, business leaders, and civil society representatives to resolve high-profile and high-stakes political and legal disputes.

His thought leadership has been widely recognized in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Financial Times, El País, and others.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, Mr. Vivanco founded the Center for Justice and International Law, where he provided legal representation in the Inter-American system. As a staff attorney with 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.

Mr. Vivanco 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. He 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.