Cristina Cárdenas focuses her practice on international litigation and arbitration. Her experience includes the representation of U.S. and Latin American corporate clients in a variety of business related disputes, including disputes involving distributorship, manufacturing and other commercial agreements. 

Recent results achieved include successfully serving as co-counsel to a Latin American licensee that was awarded $52.6 Million as well as attorneys' fees in an international arbitration against a major shoe manufacturer in a licensing dispute arising out of the Mercosur region, as well as successfully enforcing a multi-million dollar arbitration award that had been rendered in Colombia on behalf of a Colombian telecommunications company.  Mercury Telco Group, Inc., v. Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota S.A. E.S.P., 2009 WL 3644313 (S.D. Fla. 2009); Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota S.A. E.S.P. v. Mercury Telco Group, Inc., 2009 WL 3644302 (S.D. Fla. 2009).

Cárdenas has lived, studied, and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Latin America.  She has native professional fluency in Spanish and is conversant in French. 

She received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Political Science and Latin American Studies, and obtained her J.D. from the University of Florida.  While at the University of Florida, Cárdenas served as Executive Research Editor and Assistant Editor in Chief of the Florida Journal of International Law.  She also pursued a concentration in international commercial transactions from the University of Montpellier College of Law in Montpellier, France. 

Following her graduation from law school, Cárdenas obtained an LL.M. in International Law from the University of Miami, where she concentrated her studies in international litigation and arbitration. 

Cárdenas has been named a 2010 “Florida Rising Star” by the publication Super Lawyers, and was named in “20 Under 40” by the publication Poder 360, which highlighted 20 people under age 40 who have exerted influence over the arts, business, education and media in Miami.  Her most recent speaking engagements include the American Bar Association’s 2010 Midyear Meeting, Current Trends and Developments in International Arbitration (February 2010); Juris Conference on Managing Business Disputes and Legal Risk in Latin America, Current State of International Commercial Arbitration in the Region (October 2008); the ICDR's 6th Annual Miami International Arbitration Conference, The Latest Developments in the Region on the Law of Arbitration (April 2008); the Inter-American Bar Association's Conference on Establishing and Protecting Your Investment in the United States, The Legal System at Work (March 2008); the ICDR's International ADR New York and Washington, D.C. Reporting Programs, Latin American Report (October and November 2007); and the New York State Bar Association's International Law and Practice Section Annual Meeting in Lima, Peru, Judicial Interference with International Arbitration (September 2007).  

Cárdenas served as Co-Chair for the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law 2009 Fall Meeting, and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the ABA International Law Section’s International Litigation Committee and Latin American Committee.  

She is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and all Florida state courts.