Mariela Melhem has more than 25 years of experience in domestic and international business law, investment projects, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and critical commercial contracts involving multiple jurisdictions, including Angola, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, Latin America, United States and the Middle and Far East. She advises large and small companies on all types of business-critical, national, and international commercial transactions providing practical, risk management-based solutions to structure transactions with suppliers, customers, licensors, distributors, and other strategic partners. In addition, she currently leads the Compliance and Crisis Management practice advising clients across such multiple jurisdictions, in corporate internal and external investigations, including workplace investigations such as those stemming from allegations of discrimination, harassment, violations of corporate policy, information technology, compliance concerns, anti-corruption, risk and crisis management.

She regularly advises clients designing and advising on the implementation of compliance policies and programs, training programs for different hierarchical levels, as well as conducting reviews of companies’ worldwide compliance programs, evaluating anti-corruption, ESG, third-party risk Management, due diligence and compliance in the context of international business transactions, foreign investments and mergers and acquisitions. Besides her longstanding expertise in ABC compliance, she has developed a unique practice in Argentina for global trade compliance matters related to economic sanctions and export control regulations compliance advising domestic and international customers on the matter.

Ms. Melhem is a Senior partner of the Corporate and Compliance and Crisis Management practices at Mitrani Caballero. She was the first woman partner at Mitrani, Caballero. Previously, she was a senior associate with Bruchou, Fernández Madero, Lombardi & Mitrani (1999-2007), an associate with the Corporate Department of BakerBotts, LLP, New York Office (1998-1999), and visiting attorney at the Business & International Department of Vinson & Elkins, LLP in Houston, Texas (Summer Program, 1998). She is a member of the City of Buenos Aires Bar and the Vice president of its Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Committee.

She has been recognized as “Leading Partner” and “Recommended Lawyer” by The Legal 500 (2024-2023-2022) for her distinctive role in the Firm Compliance practice. She has also been categorized as “Excellent” by Leaders League  2024, 2023 and 2022 Compliance ranking, and ranked in Band 3 by Chamber & Partners Latin America Guide 2025 for Compliance.

She is an International Certified Compliance Practitioner after getting her certification from the Argentine Association of Ethics and Compliance, which is member of the International Federation of Compliance Associations. She is a professor of the academic group of the Argentine Association of Ethics and Compliance in the national and international anti-corruption certification programme, lecturing on Global Trade Compliance.

She has participated as speaker in several national and foreign compliance conferences.

She has participated as author of several local and foreign publications related to anti-corruption in Argentina, including:

Argentina: A Legal Toolbox for an Unprecedented Crisis, The Guide to Managing a Corporate Crisis Third Edition, Latin Lawyer Insight, 2021, 2022 y 2023. 13

New Corporate Criminal Liability Act – how to protect your organisation, The Investigation Review of the Americas 2019, Global Investigations Review, 2018 (traducción al español disponible aquí)

Argentina: current anti-corruption landscape, The Investigation Review of the Americas 2018, Global Investigations Review, 2017

Los procesos de verificación (due diligence) y la transmisión de la responsabilidad en los procesos de fusión y adquisición de sociedades (arts. 3º y 23, inc. VII de la ley 27.401), Compliance, anticorrupción y responsabilidad penal empresaria, Suplemento Especial, Thompson Reuters La Ley, 2018