IBA president brings together US ambassador and Spanish lawyers to promote equality in the legal industry | Legal

President of the International Bar Association (IBA), Almudena Arpon de Mendivilbrought together 25 of the most influential women in the Spanish legal industry at an informal luncheon in Madrid to address the gender gap in management positions. Not in vain, this is one of the five axes of the IBA’s new presidential program for the period 2023-2024.

US Ambassador to Spain at the meeting sponsored by Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Julissa Reynosowas the guest of honor. Reynoso during the ex-presidential term Barack Obama He served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and later the United States Ambassador to Uruguay, and was a partner at the international law firm Winston and Strawn in New York. He was also a professor at Columbia University’s School of Law and the School of International and Public Affairs.

Among the lawyers present at the meeting are members of the main Spanish and international law firms operating in Spain, heads of legal departments of large corporations and financial institutions, and professionals from the world of management, justice and academia.

Particularly, they Soledad AtienzaDean of IE Law School Law School; laura bravoSustainability director and secretary of the Board of Técnicas Reunidas; consuelo castroState Attorney General; Alexandra ChichiWarner Bros. head of international law at Discovery; Laura RiveraHead of regulation of Redeia; Isabel Estapenotary public, director of Naturgy and Criteria and patron of the Caixa Foundation; Guillermina EstherLitigation and Arbitration partner in Pérez-Llorca; laura fernandezAliseda’s general counsel and secretary of the Board of Directors; mercedes premiereDean of the Faculty of Law, University of Navarra; Monica GuzmanProfessor of Private International Law at UNED; Barbara Hernandez-Moradirector of LSGIE’s legal department; Alejandra MarinVice President of International Law at The Knot Worldwide; Monica Martin de Vidalesa partner and co-director of the commercial department at Garrigues; silvia martinezdirector of law firm Bristol Myers Squibb; small columnsenior partner at DLA Piper; Maria Concepcion OrdizPresident of the Central Administrative Court of Appeals; Teresa Paz-AresCorporate and M&A partner in Uría; Maria Perez PrietoAlsa’s legal department manager and member of the Board of Directors; Diana RiveraMercantile and M&A partner in Cuatrecasas; Blanca RivillaWizink Bank Board Secretary; Marta Sule, Puig’s vice president and legal firm; Y Maria Luisa VaraDirector of legal consultancy Azora.

“I advocate meritocracy, capacity, effort, but it’s about keeping the scales from being more demanding on women for whatever reason. It is true that, given your bright orbits, the problem would be said to not exist. But the facts show that we are still in the minority. IBA undertook an ambitious project called 50:50 by 2030In her speech, Almudena Arpón de Mendívil said:

The elected president of the IBA also described the course of Julissa Reynoso, the United States ambassador to Spain, as “a woman breaking down barriers and ceilings made of glass at its best.” Born in the Dominican Republic, Reynoso spent four years in New York without seeing his mother, an illegal immigrant, and spent his youth in the South Bronx. After graduating with top grades from her high school class, she won a scholarship to study law at Harvard University. In 2012, she became the youngest ambassador of the United States of America in the team where she assumed the ambassadorship of the United States in Uruguay. Hillary Clinton.

This was one of the first meetings held by President Arpón de Mendívil to “make gender equality a reality” to promote the visibility of senior women in the legal sector and foster a constructive dialogue that allows for the identification of best practices. the shortest possible time. The first woman to chair the IBA in 20 years, the president also expressed his willingness to intensify relations with bar associations to promote and implement measures to promote gender equality.