International trade and investment strategy, from every side of the table.
Molina & Associates is a Swiss-based consulting firm providing legal and strategic advice to governments, companies, trade associations and civil society on trade and investment rules, competition, market access and disputes, and on how geopolitics is reshaping them.
Why Molina & Associates
Our advice is led by our founder, Marco Molina, and draws on direct experience on every side of the table:
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The government perspective. Marco negotiated Guatemala's investment treaties and free trade agreements, and later represented it in WTO negotiations. Our advice therefore anticipates how negotiators and regulators define their interests and proposals.
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The business perspective. As executive director of industry associations and adviser to exporters in major trade negotiations, he learned to translate rules into commercial consequences, which is where every recommendation we make begins.
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The multilateral perspective. His twenty years in Geneva's multilateral system, across the WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD, WHO and ILO, shape how we help clients see where decisions are made and how to be heard.
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The adjudicator's perspective. Having taken part in over 50 WTO disputes as counsel, government representative and panelist, he brings to our work an adjudicator's view of what persuades.
How we can help
Clients typically come to us when:
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Their exports face an anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguard investigation abroad
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A trading partner's measure is blocking their access to a market
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A new competition law changes how they can operate, merge or set prices in a market
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They are negotiating a trade agreement or a complex commercial deal
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They need governments and international organizations to hear their position
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They prefer to settle a dispute through conciliation or mediation rather than lengthy litigation
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They need to bring or defend a WTO, free trade agreement or investor-State dispute
Who we work with
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Governments and public institutions
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Companies and trade associations
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International organizations and civil society
Our founder
Marco Molina has worked on every side of international trade and investment for more than 30 years, as negotiator, litigator and strategist. In Guatemala, he negotiated investment treaties and free trade agreements for the government, and defended the interests of the private sector as executive director of two industry associations. He then spent twenty years at Guatemala's Mission to the WTO, sixteen of them as Deputy Permanent Representative, representing his country in negotiations and disputes. WTO Members chose him by acclamation to facilitate the reform of the dispute settlement system, and he has also served as a WTO panelist.
Current roles
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Member of the Pool of External Counsel, Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL)
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WTO Roster of Experts under Article 27.2 of the DSU, 2026–2028
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Member of the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG)
Recent publications
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“Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms at the World Trade Organization: Insights on Current Developments”, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Oxford University Press (2026)
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“The Dispute Settlement Reform Discussions: A New Approach”, in Reckoning and Renewal, University of Toronto Press (2025)
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Practical Aspects of WTO Litigation (editor), Kluwer Law International (2020)
Working with us
Every mandate is led personally by Marco Molina.
We begin with an initial conversation, held in confidence, to understand your matter, check for any conflict of interest and assess whether we are the right advisers.
We work in English, French and Spanish, from Geneva.