Felipe Ford Cole, J.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor at BC Law. He studies how the law shapes the relationship between governments, their creditors, and the individuals and organizations that choose to invest in their territory in local, national, and international contexts. Trained as a comparative legal historian with expertise in U.S. and Latin American political, financial and economic issues from the nineteenth century into the present, Cole's research sheds light on ongoing political crises, public debt issues confronted by national, state/regional, and local governments, and international investment risk and disputes. Born in Caracas, Venezuela into a Peruvian family, Cole, a native Spanish speaker, has extensive experience living and traveling in Latin America.