On December 2 the International Chamber of Commerce - ICC World Council appointed Fernando Mantilla-Serrano of Shearman & Sterling LLP to a third consecutive three-year term as the Colombian member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration based in Paris. Mantilla-Serrano is a well-known international commercial arbitration expert who focuses on interests involving Latin America and Spain.

The ICC's re-appointment coincides with Mantilla-Serrano's November nomination as the Substitute President of the 32nd America's Cup Fast Resolution Panel of Arbitrators for disputes, scheduled to be held in 2007 in Valencia, Spain.

This nomination marks Mantilla-Serrano's growing presence in sports sponsorship related arbitration.  It follows an arbitral award  handed down in July 2005, which was widely reported in the motor sports press.  Mantilla-Serrano obtained the award in favor of Altadis, S.A., the Franco-Spanish tobacco company that sponsored  the professional motorcycle racing in the FIM Moto GP Championship. The  award  ordered the Moto GP veteran racer,  Brazilian Alexandre Barros, to pay Altadis more than US$3 million in damages, interest, fees and costs for having abandoned a two-year sponsorship agreement with Altadis after only one year. The decision, applying Spanish law, marks the first in which a penalty clause was upheld against a rider in professional motorcycle racing.