María Elena Gratereaux is a Franco-Dominican lawyer born in the province of San Cristóbal in the Dominican Republic. For the last twenty years she has resided on the northern coast of the country where she was born.

A founding partner of the law firm, Gratereaux Delva & Associates, with offices located in Cabarete and Santo Domingo. As of 2006, she serves as legal advisor to the French Embassy in the Dominican Republic.

Gratereaux Delva obtained her law degree from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and began practicing labor law at the hands of two of the most renowned labor lawyers in the Dominican Republic and Latin America. The first being Dr. Lupo Hernández Rueda, one of the editors of the Dominican Labor Code, with whom she continued to collaborate until his death. The second was his son and successor, Dr. Carlos Hernández Contreras.

Her academic background includes a master’s degree in Real Estate Law, awarded by the UAPA University in Santiago in the Dominican Republic, and earning a postgraduate degree in Executive Management, which was obtained at Barna Business School in Santo Domingo.

In April 2017, she was invited by Harvard University to speak at the “Music for Social Justice Seminar”, held at the facilities of the prestigious institution, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During this stay, she participated in the “XIII Negotiation and Persuasion Workshop,” held at the Harvard Faculty Club.

For more than 18 years, her firm has been dedicated to practicing labor and real estate law, collaborating mostly with a foreign clientele.

Of note, in 2018 she was recognized by the BHD León Bank of the Dominican Republic and selected among the 10 Women Who Change the World, a recognition granted based on her excellent work performance and active role in the community.