Main Areas of Practice

· Litigation
· Criminal Law.

Experience

From 1998 to 2002, Carolina was a judicial functionary in the Prosecutor’s Office. She began by working at the Unidad Especializada de Casación, reviewing and following up appeals to the Supreme Court, and, later, at the Fiscalía Adjunta de Delitos Económicos, Corrupción y Tributarios, dealing with crimes connected to finance, corruption, and tax. She was closely involved in the transition to the new criminal procedure, following the introduction of the new Procedural Penal Code (Código Procesal Penal, 1996). This position gave her the opportunity for actively involving herself in the investigation and follow-up of complex judicial processes relating to crimes in finance and corruption, and also other public sector white collar crime, by coordinating with the Criminal Investigation Department (Organismo de Investigación Judicial), the General Comptroller's Office (Contraloría General de la República) and the Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General del República).

Career

Carolina Muñoz received her Law Degree in 2002 from the University of Costa Rica (Universidad de Costa Rica), where she graduated with honors and received distinction for her thesis. She is a member of the Colegio de Abogados de Costa Rica and became an authorized Notary Public in 2003.  Currently, Carolina is a “Curator Ad Litem” approved by the Supreme Court of Justice.

Membership

From 2002 to 2006, Carolina was a member of the firm Bufete Bonilla León & Asociados. She successfully represented important private sector companies in litigation, where her judicial counsel in Criminal Law led to favorable outcomes in cases principally in areas related to financial, environmental and intellectual property crimes.

Languages

She is fluent in Spanish, English and German.