Ricardo Benítez

What is the best thing you have taken from IE Law School?

While I cannot stress enough the high level of education offered at IE Law School, what I will truly hold onto is the network that IE provides. Their dedication to quality recruitment guarantees that the staff, professors and your peers will be of the highest caliber. The people you will have the honor to encounter during your time at IE will become your global family and your safety net whenever you need it. Be it an old classmate or an ex professor, we always look out for each other as members of the IE community—you are never alone regardless of where you are.

How did the LL.M. in International Business Law help you in your professional life?

As a professional, you are always wary of the unknown—whether you are offering advice to a client, a friend or a family member, it can make you conscious of making a mistake and leading someone to make the wrong decision.

As an attorney and Certified Public Accountant, who also holds an MBA and LL.M., the advice that I offer can generate an enormous impact on the lives of many people. Making a bad call in my line of work could hurt a large multinational with many employees. With the LL.M. in International Business Law, however, I feel that I have gained the tools to be able to protect my clients, friends and family when they enter unknown international territory. Being able to learn a universal legal language that will ensure your rights will be understood and respected in Spain (as much as they are in Japan or South Africa, for example) is a huge advantage that I have gained thanks to the LL.M. in International Business Law.

Why did you decide to do de LL.M. in International Business Law after an MBA? How did this impact your professional life?

For me, an LL.M. in International Business Law was the obvious move after an international MBA. As an attorney, during my time in the MBA, I was always questioning the behind-the-scenes legal impact of everything I was learning.

It became clear to me that, in the MBA, we were gaining incredible tools for success in international business. I also felt that many of my classmates would undoubtedly need an expert on international business law to guide them through these often confusing waters. And the LL.M. in International Business Law helped me to become that person.

Today, I am able to approach clients’ situations internally and externally. I can use my expertise to advise them with a legal perspective that also makes managerial sense. Too often lawyers only look at the legal impact and forget that there is an entire business being affected. Combining the MBA and the LL.M. in International Business Law allows me to take all of this into account in order to guarantee the satisfaction of my clients.

Can you tell us a little bit about your current work, and how the knowledge you acquired during the master’s program helps you in daily life?

I’m currently the chief of staff at a boutique consulting firm which has a presence in both the United States and Spain. As the assistant to the firm’s founder and president, Juan Verde, I lead the team in our efforts to promote the development of sustainable business relations between Europe, the United States and Latin America. I get to implement everything that I learned during my degree on a daily basis— from applying MBA tactics for improving operations internally throughout the firm to helping a client negotiate better terms in an international contract.

These are all skills that I have learned to develop and build upon during my time at IE. Now, I am able to use them to generate impacts that are likely to improve the lives of many. Today they may feel second nature to me, but I am well aware that I have IE Law School and IE Business School to thank for helping me become the professional that I am today.

What advice would you give to future students?

Never stop. Be the person and professional you would trust with your own livelihood. Unless you’re certain that you’ve given your absolute best, you’re never finished. It won’t be easy and you’ll question many things along the way but you must always move forward and turn problems into solutions and opportunities.