Pro bono

Lawyers from all Uría Menéndez offices provide free legal advice to non-profit entities and those with limited means. The Professor Uría Foundation promotes and oversees that process.

In the last few years, our focus has been on defending human rights, fundamentally in cases where individuals are fleeing armed conflicts or being persecuted for their ideology or religion, and in cases involving stateless minors. We also work with women and girls who are persecuted on the grounds of their gender or at risk of female genital mutilation, forced marriage or domestic violence.

The fact this type of legal advice is free does not affect its quality in any way. Uría Menéndez holds itself to the same standards of dedication and excellence as it does with any other matter.

Workshop on “Main legal considerations for NGOs and social enterprises”, in collaboration with TrustLaw. This workshop, held in Spanish, provides training on the main legal aspects that NGOs and social enterprises should bear in mind, dealing specifically with corporate, employment and tax issues, among others.   

Seminar for the “Autoempleo Incorpora” programme, supported by “la Caixa” Foundation. This seminar provides legal training in a range of areas to the programme’s staff, who then help its beneficiaries (mainly people at risk of social exclusion or in vulnerable situations) support themselves through self-employment.

Human rights forum of the Actualidad Jurídica Uría Menéndez journal:

• Valls Bolta, Aina; Rodrigo Sanz, Julia (2023). El artículo 35.11 de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 de Extranjería: mecanismo para la asunción de tutela de menores extranjeros por parte de determinadas entidades dedicadas a la protección de menores. Actualidad Jurídica Uría Menéndez, 62, pp. 237-248 (ISSN: 1578-956X). Link to the article

• Navarro Manich, José Alberto; Fernández Cobo, Bárbara; Adell Troncho, Belén (2023). El derecho a la asistencia jurídica de los menores extranjeros no acompañados. Actualidad Jurídica Uría Menéndez, 61, pp. 197-207 (ISSN: 1578-956X). Link to the article

• Lamas de Mesa, Jana; Gómez Melé, Elisenda; González Fernández, Eduardo (2022). Medidas de protección para menores extranjeros separados (menores acompañados de persona adulta sin vínculo biológico): viabilidad jurídica de alternativas a la separación automática. Actualidad Jurídica Uría Menéndez, 60, pp. 220-234 (ISSN: 1578-956X). Link to the article

Other articles

• Navarro, José Alberto; Manzanedo, Cristina (2022). Spanish Court Recognises the Spanish nationality of a Stateless ‘Invisible Child’ In Order To Remedy the Violation of Her Human Rights. The Statelessness & Citizenship Review, Vol. 4 no 2. Link to the article

Opinion forums

• Migraciones e infancia, Cristina Manzanedo and José Alberto Navarro, El País, 30 June 2022. The protection of displaced minors arriving in Spain accompanied by adults who are not their parents requires special attention – whether they come from Ukraine or via the southern border. Appropriate protection measures should be implemented according to the principle of the best interests of the child to avoid unnecessary separations.

• La defensa de los refugiados, José Alberto Navarro, El País, 24 June 2021. A call to the legal profession to act, train and raise awareness to identify refugee and statelessness cases.

Legal guides

The Professor Uría Foundation has made available a series of documents that may be of interest to entities in the social sector. These documents are in Spanish only and can be downloaded via the links in the Documentation section.

• Uría Menéndez won the Expansión Jurídico Award for Best Pro Bono Initiative of 2024, recognising the work carried out by a large team of the firm’s lawyers, led by José Alberto Navarro and coordinated by the Professor Uría Foundation. They succeeded in their efforts to protect the lives of Afghan nationals and their families who worked with the Spanish authorities and armed forces in Afghanistan.

• The Professor Uría Foundation collaborated in the project that won Uría Menéndez the award for most innovative firm in Supporting Refugees and Migrants, in the Financial Times 2023 edition of the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards. The award was given for the pro bono advice that culminated in judicial recognition of the Spanish citizenship of a stateless minor as a remedy for the violation of her human rights. This project is the result of a collaboration with the Ödos Programme.

• The Expansión Jurídico Award for Best Pro Bono Initiative of 2023 was awarded to the work carried out by a large team at Uría Menéndez, led by José Alberto Navarro and with the collaboration of the Professor Uría Foundation. This team managed to obtain Spanish citizenship for a stateless minor as a remedy for the violation of her human rights. This project is the result of a collaboration with the Ödos Programme.

• As part of the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Fundación Emet Arco Iris, in June 2023 it recognised the Professor Uría Foundation for our volunteeers’ work providing legal advice to the Ödos Programme. A long-term and strategic relationship has been set up with the programme, to seek protection of the rights of the migrant women and children it accommodates. 

• The Professor Uría Foundation collaborated in the project that received the Innovation and Social Justice award jointly with Uría Menéndez in the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2021. The award was for pro bono advice provided in connection with the demise of a young woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros (CIE) in Madrid in 2011, which enabled her family to secure an acceptance by the State of its liability for the death in November 2020.

• In 2020, the Spanish Committee for Refugee Aid (CEAR) named the Professor Uría Foundation a “refuge organisation” in recognition of our volunteers’ work in protecting the fundamental rights of asylum seekers in Ceuta and Melilla.

• The Professor Uría Foundation was part of the team, led by Uría Menéndez, that was recognised by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards 2020 for pro bono advice for the Ödos Programme, a network of organisations striving to provide comprehensive care and assistance to vulnerable women and their children who make it to Spain in small unseaworthy boats.

• The pro bono work of all Uría Menéndez offices, coordinated by the Professor Uría Foundation, was awarded TrustLaw Domestic Law Firm of the Year Award 2019. One of the matters highlighted was the advice given to FEDER (Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras), which involved a legal analysis of how to homogenise access to treatment for patients with rare diseases across autonomous regions.