Go back to News
NEWS
Gómez-Acebo & Pombo recognised at the Global Pro Bono Awards 2021
21 of October, 2021
The Global Pro Bono Awards ceremony took place yesterday, where the two projects presented by our Foundation, Online Gender-Based Violence and Primero H Socimi, were recognised in the prestigious awards of PILnet (Public Interest Law Network), a global organisation of reference in the promotion of legal pro bono. These awards recognise projects from all over the world in which leading international law firms participate.
The Online Gender-Based Violence project has been awarded as the best project in the Local Pro Bono Impact category and thus becomes the first Spanish pro bono project to obtain this award.
Through this project, the Foundation together with the Law Firm, the Luz Casanova Foundation and the Carlos III University of Madrid, want to contribute to improving knowledge and legal assistance in gender-based violence by digital means among adolescents. To this end, a practical legal guide and an information leaflet for adolescents have been created and will be presented on 23 November at the Firm.
The project team was formed by Patricia Fita, Ana Higuera, Alejandra Martín, Marina Martín, Rafael Merino and Carmen Pombo (for the Foundation) and Carlos Álvarez, María Rosa Garrosa, Teresa Gutiérrez, Inés Fontes, Saray López, Inés Molina, María Flora Morillo-Velarde, Borja Ramos, Marta Robador, Inés Puig-Semper, Irene San Martín, Ralph Smith and Beatriz Vivar (for the Firm).
For its part, the Primero H Socimi project, which has been shortlisted, is a large pro bono collaboration project for the constitution of the first social SOCIMI in Spain, created by ASOCIMI and HogarSÍ, with the support of Andersen, our Firm and our Foundation.
The aim is to develop 177 homes in three years, mainly for homeless people.
On this occasion, the team was made up of Patricia Fita, Ana Higuera, Marina Martín, Rafael Merino and Carmen Pombo (for the Foundation) and Enrique Isla, Oliver Padilla, Jacobo Palanca, Augusto Piñel and Javier Vinuesa (for the Firm).
These awards, which enjoy great recognition worldwide, are a benchmark in the practice of pro bono, so this award is an honour for the Firm and the Foundation of which we are very proud.
Thank you very much to all of you for your commitment and collaboration in these initiatives that are so necessary for social progress.
CONGRATULATIONS!
The Online Gender-Based Violence project has been awarded as the best project in the Local Pro Bono Impact category and thus becomes the first Spanish pro bono project to obtain this award.
Through this project, the Foundation together with the Law Firm, the Luz Casanova Foundation and the Carlos III University of Madrid, want to contribute to improving knowledge and legal assistance in gender-based violence by digital means among adolescents. To this end, a practical legal guide and an information leaflet for adolescents have been created and will be presented on 23 November at the Firm.
The project team was formed by Patricia Fita, Ana Higuera, Alejandra Martín, Marina Martín, Rafael Merino and Carmen Pombo (for the Foundation) and Carlos Álvarez, María Rosa Garrosa, Teresa Gutiérrez, Inés Fontes, Saray López, Inés Molina, María Flora Morillo-Velarde, Borja Ramos, Marta Robador, Inés Puig-Semper, Irene San Martín, Ralph Smith and Beatriz Vivar (for the Firm).
For its part, the Primero H Socimi project, which has been shortlisted, is a large pro bono collaboration project for the constitution of the first social SOCIMI in Spain, created by ASOCIMI and HogarSÍ, with the support of Andersen, our Firm and our Foundation.
The aim is to develop 177 homes in three years, mainly for homeless people.
On this occasion, the team was made up of Patricia Fita, Ana Higuera, Marina Martín, Rafael Merino and Carmen Pombo (for the Foundation) and Enrique Isla, Oliver Padilla, Jacobo Palanca, Augusto Piñel and Javier Vinuesa (for the Firm).
These awards, which enjoy great recognition worldwide, are a benchmark in the practice of pro bono, so this award is an honour for the Firm and the Foundation of which we are very proud.
Thank you very much to all of you for your commitment and collaboration in these initiatives that are so necessary for social progress.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Press contact
Director of Business Development, Marketing and Communications
Director of Business Development, Marketing and Communications
More information about
Gómez-Acebo & Pombo
03 Mar, 2026 
PUBLICATION
03 Mar, 2026
Legal doctrine of the UPC’s Court of Appeal on the patent invalidity defence: is the way in which the ‘long arm’ is applied compatible with the UPC's own Rules of Procedure?
The Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court has ruled that a patent invalidity defence cannot be raised before the Unified Patent Court, with only a counterclaim being possible. This calls into question the way in which the ‘long arm’ is being applied with regard to European patents validated in States that are not party to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA), whether or not they are members of the European Union, since no counterclaim for revocation or plea of invalidity as a defence can be filed or raised with regard to such patents. This raises significant doubts about the compatibility of how the ‘long arm’ is applied in the Unified Patent Court system, given its own Rules of Procedure.
03 Mar, 2026 
PUBLICATION
26 Feb, 2026
A restructuring plan sanctioned in England and Wales that modifies debt subject to German law has no effect in Germany
Recognition of UK restructuring plans remains a contentious issue in the European Union. This decision by the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court is controversial, but it raises questions about the consequences of the application of the rule in Gibbs by the courts of England and Wales in this context.
26 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
26 Feb, 2026
Pharma & Healthcare No. 47
The newsletter covers the main developments in Pharma & Healthcare legislation and case law.
26 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
23 Feb, 2026
Irregularities in public sector staffing. Jurisdiction and/or substantive law
When a serious irregularity is found in administrative contracts owing to their employment character, jurisdiction lies with the employment branch of the court system. However, if the administrative route is not outside the scope of the law, jurisdiction lies with the judicial review branch of the court system.
23 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
17 Feb, 2026
Squeeze-out of minority shareholders following successful mandatory takeover bid: rebuttable presumption of fair consideration
The Court of Justice of the European Union (Fifth Chamber), in its judgment of 27 November 2025 (Case C-567/24, Svema Trade), concerning the equitable price in a squeeze-out requiring minority shareholders to sell their shares to an offeror who, following a mandatory takeover bid, has acquired more than 90% of the capital carrying voting rights in the company subject of the takeover bid, states that the presumption that the price offered in the bid, in the context of such a squeeze-out of holders of securities, is equitable is rebuttable.
17 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
13 Feb, 2026
Senior management, membership of the board of directors and insolvency proceedings: single association theory yes, but also employer-employee relationship
Despite classifying the association as a commercial relationship and not an employment relationship, compensation amounts for termination of contract are allowed if they match those accepted by the insolvency practitioners, just as remuneration amounts are allowed if said practitioners had decided to accept remuneration in some months but not in others.
13 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
10 Feb, 2026
Application of Austrian law to liability in tort of directors of Maltese company offering online games of chance in Austria
The CJEU clarifies two important issues regarding the application of the Rome II Regulation: the scope of the exception relating to corporate matters and the determination of the place of damage in the case of games of chance offered via the internet from one Member State in another Member State without the licence required in the latter Member State.
10 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
09 Feb, 2026
Notarial enforcement of pledges. Is Article 1872 of the Civil Code mandatory? In what sense?
The clause agreed upon must comply, for greater certainty, with the provisions of the new judicial enforcement procedure. It will be necessary to agree on an appraised value, which is not required in Article 1872 CC, because otherwise the award would be similar to a ‘forfeiture proviso’ (pactum commissorium), which the Civil Code neutralised with the drastic imposition of extinguishment of the debt in its entirety.
09 Feb, 2026
PUBLICATION
06 Feb, 2026
Automotive and Sustainable Mobility No. 29
Summary of legislative and jurisprudential developments relating to the automotive sector.
06 Feb, 2026