Rodrígo Uría receives lifetime achievement award

Esade Alumni grants the Aptíssimi Awards.

July 4, 2008

---

Esade Alumni published the names of the recipients of the Aptíssimi Awards for lifetime achievement: Rodrigo Uría Meruéndano and Juan José Pinto Ruiz. The awards ceremony will take place next 3 July in Barcelona.

Rodrigo Uría Meruéndano, who passed away last year, was one of the founding partners of the law firm Uría Menéndez. Rodrigo (Madrid, 1941 - Croatia, 2007) achieved his professional calling from his father, Rodrigo Uría González, one of the greatest Spanish authorities in corporate law in the 20th century, and a passion for art from his mother, the painter Blanca Meruéndano.

Rodrigo was a prestigious lawyer who specialised in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions. He served as Chairman of Uría Menéndez since 2005, after acting as Managing Partner for many years. His lifelong dedication to the firm, his broad professional experience, and his organisational and leadership skills allowed him to steer Uría Menéndez wisely during those years. In 2003, the British publishers Chambers & Partners granted him the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rodrigo was also Chairman of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum, a member of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Xavier Zubiri Foundation, Vice Chairman of “Diálogo” a Spanish-French cultural exchange organization, Chairman of the “ProCNIC” Foundation and Vice Chairman of the Action Against Hunger Foundation.

In addition to the Aptíssimi award, his professional career earned him the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts, the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholic (both of these posthumously), the Grand Cross of St Raymond of Peñafort, and the title of Official of the French Legion of Honour.

The Aptíssimi award for lifetime achievement, awarded by Esade’s Alumni, recognizes prestigious achievements from legal professionals dedicated to business law who have pursued their careers according to the values that Esade wishes to transmit to its students. The jury that gives out this award is formed by some of the most prominent professionals in business law.  

The name Aptíssimi was chosen for its Latin meaning: “the most capable”.