Antonio García Padilla (born 1954 in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

) is a Puerto Rican scholar. He served as the president of

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

from 2001 to 2009.

Early life and education

Antonio Garcia Padilla was born in Ponce and raised in the nearby town of Coamo. He has five brothers, among them

Alejandro Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander ( Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros ( Greek), Alsander ( Irish), Alessandro ( Italian), Aleksand ...

, former senator and Governor of Puerto Rico, and Juan Carlos, current mayor of

Coamo, Puerto Rico Coamo (, ) is a town and municipality founded in 1579 in the south-central region of Puerto Rico, located north of Santa Isabel; south of Orocovis and Barranquitas; east of Villalba and Juana Díaz; and west of Aibonito and Salinas. The ...

. García Padilla received a Bachelor's Degree in

Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

, Magna Cum Laude, and a Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude, from the

. Before studying law, he was part of the team of the Office of Monopolistic Affairs of the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico. García Padilla went on to earn a LL.M. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 1981. He has served as law clerk first to the

Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United State ...

and then on the

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maine * District of Massachusetts ...

, for Judge

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is an American lawyer and retired jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and r ...

. After his clerkship, he became an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, later serving as associate dean of the law school in 1983 and dean in 1986. He served as dean of the law school until 2001 when he was elected president of the

. In 1999, he was elected to the Council of The American Law Institute.

President

Antonio García Padilla served as president of the

. He assumed the presidency on 25 November 2001, and resigned on 30 September 2009.Antonio-Garcia-Padilla-Asume-Hoy-Presidencia-Upr
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Later career

Professor García Padilla currently chairs the Puerto Rican Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, is a member of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Profession of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

, which is ultimately responsible for the accreditation of law schools in the United States. He is a member of the Committee on Emerging Markets and Innovations of the Law School Admission Council. He has been a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, a Commissioner of the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education, is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

and has served on multiple committees, commissions and task forces in these and other entities in the fields of law and education. For seven years he chaired the Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation of Puerto Rico. He is a member of the Iberoamerican Forum. Antonio García Padilla has been a member of the Board of Directors of Universal Insurance Co. the largest insurance company in Puerto Rico and has been an advisor to Universia, the association of Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese universities supported by

Banco Santander Banco Santander S.A. trading as Santander Group ( , , ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Santander, with operative offices in Madrid. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in most global financial centres ...

. He is also a member of the panel of commercial arbitrators of the

American Arbitration Association The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is an organization focused in the field of alternative dispute resolution, one of several arbitration organizations that administers arbitration proceedings. Structured as a non-profit, the AAA also admin ...

and is an arbitrator in the

United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (in case citations, D.P.R.; ) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The court is based in San ...

. Professor García Padilla teaches courses on Commercial Contracts, Payment Systems, Secured Transactions and Commercial Arbitration. In addition, he is a member of the Editorial Board of the Revista Jurídica de Catalunya and has published extensively in commercial law and education.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Padilla, Antonio Presidents of the University of Puerto Rico Educators from Ponce, Puerto Rico Living people 1954 births Puerto Rican academic administrators University of Puerto Rico alumni Members of the American Law Institute

Early life and education

President

Later career

See also

References