Indigenous Lawyers

Who we are

We don't study this world from the outside: we belong to it. Venancio is a Mapuche lawyer; we defend rights and design agreements from that belonging, with the legitimacy and cultural fluency that come from being part of the people we represent.

Indigenous experts

Both partners hold postgraduate credentials as Experts in Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and International Cooperation from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid: international rigor (FPIC, IFC PS7, ILO Convention 169) with local pertinence.

Services

What we do for your project

Four services, one path — our 4 CON method: CONocer (know), CONciliar (reconcile), CONfiar (trust), CONsentir (consent). How they work together →

Know who you will be dealing with before you invest

Indigenous Due Diligence · CONocer (know)

Mapping of the peoples present, risk and impact assessment, and the engagement roadmap. IFC PS7, Equator Principles and FPIC standards. Site in Spanish.

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From conflict to reconciliation

Indigenous Mediation · CONciliar (reconcile)

Restorative justice with cultural pertinence: repairing harm and rebuilding trust. Includes defense of rights and lands before CONADI when needed. Site in Spanish.

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From one-off permits to relationships that last

Indigenous Engagement · CONfiar (trust)

Each people's own protocols and shared governance among company, peoples and the State. The long-term relationship, not the one-time permit. Site in Spanish.

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The legitimate agreement that moves your project forward

Indigenous Consent (FPIC) · CONsentir (consent)

The highest standard of engagement: free, prior and informed consent, with documented benefit-sharing. The agreement that sustains the investment over time.

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Does your project need this?

Let's talk →

How to work with us

Two ways to engage us. One firm.

From a fixed-scope product to a multi-year master services agreement. The size of the engagement changes; the rigor doesn't.

Projects

Fixed-scope products

Defined scope, deliverables and price. For a due diligence, a mediation, an FPIC process or a specific benefit-sharing agreement.

Enterprise

Master agreement · service orders

Ongoing expert support for large operations — mining, energy and the State — billed by person-hours, with roadmap, milestones and KPIs.

For Mapuche communities, lof and individuals

Defense of rights, land regularization before CONADI, or mediation of a conflict? We also work directly with communities and individuals, with the same cultural pertinence.

Write to us →

The team

We don't represent someone else's world. It is our own.

Two Mapuche partners, with the cultural fluency of those who are part of the people they represent and the peer-to-peer respect that bond demands.

Venancio Coñuepan Mesías

Founding partner · lawyer

venancioconuepan.cl → venancio@conuepanmillaquir.cl

Mapuche lawyer and expert in Indigenous peoples, human rights and international cooperation. Executive Director of Fundación Empresas Indígenas (FEI) and Executive Secretary of the Chile Working Group of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

·Lawyer · Universidad Católica de Temuco

·LLM in Regulatory Law · Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

·Expert in Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and International Cooperation · Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

·Admitted before the Supreme Court of Chile

·UN Forum on Business and Human Rights · Geneva 2022

·IVLP · U.S. Department of State

·One Young World · 2025

Llacolén Millaquir Peña

Partner · Indigenous peoples expert

llacolen@conuepanmillaquir.cl

Mapuche, from the Agustín Curin community (Freire, La Araucanía). Executive Director of Fundación Koñwepang-Millakir and civil-society counselor at Chile's Ministry of Energy. Law graduate and expert in Indigenous peoples from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid — the same specialization as her partner. Lecturer on Mapuche kimün (knowledge) and Mapuche law.

·Law graduate · Universidad Santo Tomás

·Expert in Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and International Cooperation · Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

·Executive Director · Fundación Koñwepang-Millakir

·Counselor · Civil Society, Ministry of Energy

Selected

Publications & press

Authority you can verify, not just claim: academic publications, press and third-party recognition. Sources in Spanish.

Publication

Situación actual de los derechos del pueblo mapuche después del caso Catrillanca On Mapuche rights after the Catrillanca case · Calfio, Coñuepan & Figueroa Huencho · Anuario de Derechos Humanos, Universidad de Chile · 2019 · DOI 10.5354/0718-2279.2019.53921

↗ Press

Interview on Indigenous land restitution and Chile's long-term social peace Conversaciones DF · Diario Financiero (Chile's leading business daily) · 2022

↗ Recognition

Fellow · Premio Impacto Social Social entrepreneurship award · 2015

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Our approach

Intercultural Bridges: the third way

Neither assimilation nor isolation. A doctrine — with its 4 CON method — for moving from confrontation to reconciliation without giving up self-determination. It is what orders every service we provide.

Read about our approach →

Direct contact

Let's talk

Tell us about your project or your situation. All conversations are confidential.

Full name

Organization

Email

How can we help?

Message

I have read and accept the Privacy Policy and authorize the processing of my data to answer my inquiry (Chilean Law No. 21,719).

Our office

Av. Caupolicán N° 110, Temuco

La Araucanía, Chile · in the heart of Wallmapu

+56 9 4966 5343 venancio@conuepanmillaquir.cl

LinkedIn · @vconuepan venancioconuepan.cl