René has been Of Counsel to De Sola Pate & Brown since 1989, the year he stepped down from the Venezuelan Supreme Court.  René possesses a vast experience in law, international affairs and in the humanities. 

René began his career in 1944 as the co-founder of our predecessor firm, Casanova and De Sola.  In 1947 he served as Judge of the Civil Court of First Instance of the Federal District.  In 1958-1959 he was designated Foreign Minister and then Minister of Justice, and it was in the latter position that he founded the Technical Judicial Police.  From 1969 to 1974 he was Venezuela’s Permanent Ambassador to UNESCO, an organization he continued to serve in later years as President of the Juridical Committee of UNESCO (1978 and 1995), and as Alternate President of the Appellate Committee of UNESCO (1985).  During his years in Paris, he was also an alternate Senator in Venezuela’s national congress.  He then served as a magistrate on the Supreme Court of Venezuela for ten years (1979-1989), including as Vice President of the Court and as President of the Political Administrative Chamber (1979-1987), and as President (Chief Justice) of the Court (1987-1989).  The year he stepped down from the Court he was named to the Permanent Venezuelan-Colombian Conciliation Commission, serving with ex-Prime Minister Felipe Súarez of Spain and ex-President Echeverría of Mexico.

In addition to his professional and diplomatic activities, René was for many years a professor of commercial law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello and at the Universidad Santa Maria, all of Caracas, also having been a member of the Law School Council at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and Dean of the Law School at the Universidad Santa Maria.  During these years he also chaired the Commission for the Reform of the Commercial Code. 

●Education: René received his Doctorate in Political and Social Sciences (equivalent to the present degree in law) from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (1943). He also has a Doctoral degree in Law from the University of Paris (Sorbonne, 1953). Additionally, he received a Doctorate of Philosophy, honoris causa, from the University of Tel Aviv.

●Professional Affiliations: René is an active member of a number of important international and Venezuelan organizations. He has been a member of the Academy of Political and Social Science since 1959 (President, 1968) and a member of the Venezuelan Academy of the Spanish Language since 1969 (Director in 1979); Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, of Spain, since 1970. Further, he is a member of the Institute of Comparative Law of the University of Paris and a member of the Institute of Commercial Law of the University of Buenos Aires.

●Publications: René has authored over 40 books and numerous articles and papers, including some of Venezuela’s most important treatises on commercial law topics, such as the modern interpretation on letters of credit. René’s writings are frequently cited as the authoritative statement on a range of legal, and legal historical, subjects.

●Languages: Spanish and French.