Barcelona, 3 October de 2019 – President and founding partner of Roca Junyent, Miquel Roca, has been honoured with the annual Aptissimi Award by the ESADE Alumni Law Club. The award acknowledges Miquel Roca’s long-standing career as a lawyer from both a professional and academic point of view. In this regard, ESADE Alumni has been highlighted for its contribution in the scope of Administrative and Urbanistic Law, public procurement, mediation and arbitration. In addition, the organisation highlights Miquel Roca’s contribution to the drawing up of the Spanish Constitution in 1978, and the commission written for Catalan Independence in 1979. 

On receiving the distinction, Miquel Roca stated that “many may feel that this award is an individual recognition, but for me it is a collective recognition of the private and public law sector; we must look on our profession as a tool for service to the community in order to improve society and the world we live in”.   

In this 12th edition, ESADE Alumni has also recognised the professor from Freie Universität in Berlin, Christian Armbrüster, the AENA legal counsel, CNMV and the president of the Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot. The awards recognise professional excellence in the field of business law in professional, academic, consulting and business advisory aspects.

The Aptissimi Award ceremony was held on 3 October at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, making it a prominent annual meeting point in the Spanish legal sector. This event has brought together nearly 300 representatives from the major law firms and legal advisory services, as well as members of law-related administrations such as registrars, magistrates or state lawyers and relevant professionals from other legal sectors. 

Barcelona, 2 October 2019 -. This afternoon, Roca Junyent presented the Law and Society Awards in Palauet Casades at the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Barcelona (the Barcelona Bar Association). This is the sixth edition of these awards, based on the firm’s Social Responsibility Advocacy Plan. The awards ceremony was presided by Miquel Roca, chairman of the firm, and Joan Roca, Executive President of Roca Junyent.

This time, the VI Law and Society Award was presented to the international leader fighting climate change, Christiana Figueres. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CMNUCC) from 2010 to 2016. During her tenure, Figueres met with national governments, corporations and activists, financial institutions, think tanks, technology providers, NGOs and parliamentarians to jointly work on the climate change agreement. Figueres led the process that ended the historic Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries on 12 December 2015. In 2016, TIME magazine nominated her as one of the 100 most influential leaders in the world. She currently acts as convenor of Mission 2020, an initiative that seeks to ensure the reduction of global greenhouse emissions from now on to prevent warming of over 1.5 degrees Celsius.

During the event, the awards for Roca Junyent’s sixth prize for the Social Responsibility Advocacy Contest (RSA) were held, in recognition of the best work conducted by secondary school students on the value of Law. The office’s RSA project, involving most of the firm’s lawyers, is held through a school session programme, delivered to third and fourth-year secondary students. Over 3,500 young people have attended more than 250 classes taught by the firm’s lawyers in the six editions of the programme.

The VI Edition of the Law and Society Award recognised the work of five students at the Turó school in Tarragona. The second prize was awarded to the Montjuic International School in Girona. And finally, the third prize went to four students at the Ramón Fuster school in Bellaterra.

Executive President of the firm Joan Roca acknowledged the high level of the work presented in this edition, which also seeks to promote and recognise talent amongst young people. Joan Roca emphasised “the importance of binomial law and society to jointly achieve a fairer society”.

The event for the VI Law and Society Award was attended by, among others, the Ambassador of Costa Rica in Spain, Ana Helena Chacón, the Councillor of Justice of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Ester Capella, the councillor of Territory and Sustainability, Damià Calvet, the President of the Port of Barcelona, Mercè Conesa, the General Secretary for Education of the Generalitat, Núria Cuenca, the Director of Sustainable Development, Salvador Sedó, the Director of Rights and Legal Entities, Xavier Bernadí, the councillor for the Council of Statutory Guarantees, Margarida Gil, the Director of the Law School, Jorge Jiménez, the Dean of the Barcelona Bar Association, María Eugènia Gay, and the Chief Executive of the Council of Chambers, Narcís Bosch.

Barcelona, 29 July 2019 – Roca Junyent has backed the firm’s internal talent with three stand-out promotions.

The first promotion is that of Sergi Chimenos, a member of the Public Law department, who becomes a fee-paying member. Chimenos has extensive experience in legal advice and in administrative and administrative-contentious areas, as well as town planning, competition and regulated industries.  Sergi advises local authorities, professional bodies, consortiums, service and public works dealers, public-private associations, business and employer organisations, large enterprises and SMEs. Sergi Chimus is a legal defence specialist before any of the Courts and Tribunals of the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction.

On the other hand, the office has promoted two of its senior associates to full members. The first of these two is Javier Vázquez, who has more than 14 years of experience advising individuals and corporate clients in all industries regarding intellectual and industrial property matters (trademarks, author’s right/copyrights – including software –, patents, utility models, industrial designs, domain names, etc.), unfair competition and image rights. He is also in charge of the firm’s trademark register, which has experienced exponential growth in recent years. Additionally, Vázquez offers advice in the area of Sports Law, to professionals in this area, clubs, associations and other sporting institutions. He also advises on Esports-related matters (organising championships, equipment, audio-visual rights, image rights, etc.) and the gaming industry.

The third partner the firm is promoting is Rosa Rodriguez, who has extensive experience in employment and social security, with particular dedication to defence and representation before courts. She is an expert in collective bargaining, employment regulation, restructuring, and giving audits and advice to the business party and the social party.

Blanca Cortés joins as an associate member

In addition, Roca Junyent has signed up Blanca Cortés as a member of the Intellectual Property Department in Madrid. An expert in brand-related advice, Intellectual Property (IP) rights, unfair competition and personal image rights, the attorney will bolster the Digital Business area.  Cortés has been recognised in the IP field by the top and most prestigious legal directories such as Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers and Legal 500.

Roca Junyent has historically had a strong presence in the Intellectual Property area. With this inclusion, the firm wants to promote comprehensive advice for all customers who, beyond data protection or cyber-security, need a service regarding their digital rights.

This department is therefore under expansion, and Blanca Cortés will provide all her knowledge to help it grow in Madrid, along with Teresa Pereyra, Data Protection Officer. She will also work in conjunction with the Intellectual Property area of the Barcelona office, led by Anna Viladàs, with Javier Vázquez as a new partner.