Rafael is Vice-president at Thomas Miller (Americas) and Regional Manager for Latin America, with responsibility for handling claims for the UK P&I Club and the UK Defence Club.    He joined Thomas Miller in August 2016. Prior to that, he managed and worked for a law firm in Venezuela, where he practiced maritime law and oil & gas law for 16 years, in cases involving several jurisdictions in Latin America.    Rafael is a lawyer from Venezuela with an LLM degree in Admiralty and Maritime Law from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.   He is fluent in English and Portuguese, but his native tongue is Spanish.