His area of practice focuses mainly on criminal law, administrative law, constitutional law and general litigation.

The author of a comprehensive treatise on criminal procedure, he has lectured extensively on criminology throughout Latin America and Europe.  The city of Guayaquil bestowed on him the Scientific Merit Award on four different occasions (1966, 1977, 1984 and 1986); likewise, the National Congress (1999) and Universidad de Guayaquil (1997) awarded him equivalent honors.  He is member of the International Criminology Society, the International Association of Criminal Law and of Criminology of Mexico, of the Cuban Academy of Criminal Law, of the High Latin-American Chamber of Jurists Expert in Penitentiary Sciences, among other bodies of criminal law and human rights.

He has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminology at the Universidad de Guayaquil, and Criminal Law at the Universidad Espiritu Santo (Guayaquil). Among his most relevant publications are “The Ecuadorian Penal Process”, “The Penal Process”, ”Crimes against Property”, “Crimes Against Public Trust”, “Crimes Against Persons”, “Crime Pleas” and “Punishment”.

Jorge Zavala Baquerizo has succeeded in striking a balance between the practice of jurisprudence and a transparent political activity.  In the Ecuadorian political process, he has occupied most of the highest positions that democracy establishes:  President of the National Congress (1987), Vice-president of the Republic (1968-1970), Congressman (1956-1958, 1984-1988), President of the Legislation and Codification Committee of the National Congress (1998), plus other positions attained through the popular vote.  In addition to his many other distinctions, he received the Medal of the National Order to Merit, in the degree of Great Cross, from the Ecuadorian Government; the José Joaquín de Olmedo Medal, to civic merit, from the National Congress; and the Medal of the Great Cross, from the Colombian National Congress.