Mrs. Maria-Gabriela Sarmiento holds a Law Degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela (1996) as well as a master’s degree in International Trade Law from the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France (1998). She completed a postgraduate course on International Trade Law jointly organized by the International Training Centre of the International Labor Office and the Istituto di studi europei in Turin, Italy (2003).

Since January 2018, Maria Gabriela is a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zaragoza. Her director of thesis, Prof. Dr. Katia Fach Gómez, has played a very empowering role. Her areas of research are related to international economic crimes, transnational corruption, money laundering financial regulations, administrative and criminal law provisions, as well as, foreign stolen assets recovery. Since the Covid-19 measures were adopted in Spain, the University of Zaragoza has offered lots of seminars, workshops, and courses online for all doctoral candidates, which has been a great opportunity to refresh concepts, and improve methodology and formal writing. As part of the Ph.D., Maria Gabriela (MG) completed a ten months-long international research stay as guest-student at the Chair for Law & Finances, Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich in 2019. Prof. Dr. Kern Alexander was quite an inspiration. He guided her research towards commons law system solutions available in the area confiscation and asset restitution. Following his recommendation, MG attended an International Business School on Capital Markets jointly organized by several Universities at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano and Villa Vigoni nel Lago di Como.

Before the university period, Maria Gabriela went to school in Caracas, Venezuela (1976-1986) and in Genova, Italy (1987 - 1989).

Languages: Spanish (mother-tongue), French, English, and Italian. German (B2) is her last acquisition. It was definitely easier to learn languages as teenager!

2020 on: Although the economic sanctions and measures against Venezuela adopted between 2017 and November 2019 are specifically targeting public entities and approximately twenty-five politically exposed persons, it seems that some Swiss authorities and the banking and financial institutions have misunderstood or misinterpreted the content of the Swiss Ordinance. The economic measures taken against Venezuela have been negatively impacting the work of the Zurich branch of the Venezuelan entity Sarmiento Núñez Consulting (SNC) in Switzerland. The founding partners have therefore decided to stop the operations of SNC’s Zurich branch. As from May 2020, the Zurich branch of the Venezuelan entity Sarmiento Núñez Consulting stopped operating in Zurich and elsewhere. Maria Gabriela decided to incorporate the Einzelfirma Sarmiento Klumpner Consulting (SKC) in Zürich and work from now and on within the framework of SKC.

Between 2005 and 2020, Maria Gabriela co-founded and was responsible for the administration, direction, and management of a legal consulting firm incorporated in Caracas, Venezuela with a branch incorporated in Zurich, Switzerland, where she is based since 2010. The firm name is Sarmiento Núñez Consulting www.snconsult.com. Between 2005 and 2010, Maria Gabriela lived and worked in Caracas, where, besides her duties at Sarmiento Núñez Consulting Law firm, she was designated secretary and subsequently vice-president of the Association franco- vénézuélienne de jurists. She was also teaching professor of a seminar on Commercial Arbitration at the Faculty of Law of the Universidad José Maria Vargas in Caracas. While offering her legal counsel via SNC, she worked with a multidisciplinary group of lawyers with expertise in different specialties such as international trade and commercial law, information and communication technology, banking, intellectual property law, corporate law, litigation, criminal, labor, constitutional and civil law. SNC offered a varied choice of services. Many high qualified Venezuelan and foreign experts joined SNC’s network of experts.

Before 2005, Maria Gabriela worked as e-Commerce for Developing Countries Project Manager at the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, Switzerland (2000-03) where she performed policy analysis and teaching field-missions to African, Asian and South-American countries. She also worked as Junior Consultant on public and e-procurement at the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO in Geneva (1998-99). She served as well as trainee at the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law in Vienna, Austria (2003) and at the office of the Relations with the EU Parliament of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium (2000). She lectured at national and international conferences and has published in English and Spanish in double-blind peer-review journals.

During her Law studies in Caracas, Maria Gabriela worked as legal assistance for Baker & Mc Kenzie Caracas and for Escritorio Jurídico Sarmiento Núñez & Asociados. She also worked as Clark in civil law and in criminal law courts in Caracas (1990 - 1995).

Mrs. Maria Gabriela Sarmiento lives in Zurich, is married and mother of one.

The UNASUR Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and Venezuela. Will Both Ever See the Light at the End of the Tunnel? in Journal of World Investment & Trade 17:4 (2016) 658–680, BRILL  http://www.bilaterals.org/IMG/pdf/ssrn-id2746582.pdf

The Outsider as Insider: Profiling WTO Panelists for their Impact on World Trade Decisions in Non-Legal Adjudicators in National and International Disputes, TDM 2 (2017) https://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/article.asp?key=2464

Reseña bibliográfica, obra “Derecho comparado para abogados anglo- e hispanoparlantes. Culturas jurídicas, términos jurídicos y prácticas jurídicas” in Rev. Fac. Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas, Derecho y Sociedad 13 pp. 173 - 199 (Mayo 2017) Universidad Monteavila https://www.uma.edu.ve/admini/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Derecho%20y%20Sociedad%20XIII(1).pdf