Rubén Ballesteros
Rubén Alberto Ballesteros Cárcamo (born 12 November 1939) is a Chilean lawyer and former judge who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Chile from 2005 to 2014 and as president of the Supreme Court from 2012 to 2014.
Early life
Ballesteros was born in Castro. He completed his primary education at the Liceo Galvarino Riveros in Castro and his secondary education at the Liceo Alfredo Nazar Feres No. 2 in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso.
He subsequently studied law at the Valparaíso campus of the University of Chile, which later became the University of Valparaíso.
Judicial career
Ballesteros worked as a lawyer in private practice from 1969 to 1972. In 1972, he was appointed secretary of the First Civil Court of Puerto Montt, and in 1974 he became a court reporter at the Court of Appeals of Puerto Montt. In 1976, he was appointed judge of the Second Civil Court of Osorno, followed by the Second Civil Court of Valdivia in 1978.
In 1983, Ballesteros was appointed a justice of the Court of Appeals of Punta Arenas. In 1993, he became a judicial prosecutor at the Court of Appeals of Santiago, and in 1998 he was appointed a justice of that court. He remained there until 2005, when President Ricardo Lagos nominated him to the Supreme Court of Chile.
President of the Supreme Court
On 19 December 2011, Ballesteros was elected president of the Supreme Court for a two-year term. He took office on 6 January 2012, succeeding Milton Juica, and served until 5 January 2014. He was succeeded by Sergio Muñoz Gajardo.
Ballesteros retired from the judiciary on 12 November 2014 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.