Brigida Bentiez

Brigida Benitez serves as Chief of the Office of Institutional Integrity at the Inter-American Development Bank, an independent office that investigates fraud and corruption in all Bank-financed activities and implements prevention and compliance activities to improve the Bank’s integrity policies. Ms. Benitez is a nationally recognized litigator and former partner of the WilmerHale law firm in Washington, DC. She has extensive experience in complex civil litigation, internal investigations and compliance, and international arbitration. She has led internal investigations involving a wide range of issues, including fraud, embezzlement, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters. As a key member of a WilmerHale legal team representing the University of Michigan, Ms. Benitez won a landmark victory for diversity in higher education before the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Benitez is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Washington College of Law at American University, where she teaches courses on international litigation. She has been honored as Woman of the Year by Hispanic Business Magazine and Latina Lawyer of the Year by the Hispanic National Bar Association. She also has been selected for inclusion in 2010 DC Super Lawyers for Civil Litigation Defense and as one of the 2006 “Top 40 Lawyers Under 40” by Washingtonian Magazine.

Ms. Benitez is a past president of the Hispanic Bar Association of DC and a member of the Board of Governors of the District of Columbia Bar Association. She also serves as a Director of the Hispanic National Bar Foundation and LatinoJustice PRLDEF. She also was selected as an Ambassador for the American Bar Association Business Law Section and currently serves as Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Subcommittee of the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee. Ms. Benitez is a graduate of the University of Florida and Boston College Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Boston College Law Review.