Our Team in Marbella

Vocation and training

I did not come to Law by default. I grew up in a family of jurists (judges and court officials), and grew up at home listening to technical discussions about how legal provisions are interpreted: why a given provision says what it says, and what consequences follow from one reading or another. I learned to tell a solid argument from a weak one before I learned to solve an equation. That was my first school, and it explains why in this firm technical rigor is not up for negotiation.

During my law degree studies, at the age of 20, I had the opportunity to complete my first internship at the Central Sindical Independiente y de Funcionarios (CSIF) (an independent Spanish civil-servants' trade union), my first contact with the real-world application of the legal system outside the classroom and with the internal workings of institutions, thanks to my uncle Jose Luis Heredia Hernandez, a former regional president in Andalusia.

I completed my academic training with a PhD in Criminal Law, a title which, in my practice, does not function as an ornamental credential but as a method: every submission begins with an examination of the applicable rule, its established case-law interpretation, and an explicit account of why it applies to this specific case.

If my academic training gave me the legal tools, my true training as a criminal defense lawyer had a name of its own: Julio Blasco Bazo Garrido, my legal mentor and one of the leading attorneys on the Costa del Sol, has played a fundamental role in how I understand and practice law. His influence goes far beyond the transmission of technical knowledge.

Many of the principles that govern my professional practice today — technical rigor, independence of judgment, the constant search for contradiction, meticulous analysis of procedure, and firm defense of the client's interests — have their origin in those teachings.

Over the course of my professional career I have taken part in criminal proceedings of particular complexity, both nationally and internationally, developing a specialization particularly linked to organized crime, international judicial cooperation, economic crime and cybercrime:

Extraditions and international criminal cooperation. Lead counsel in passive extradition proceedings and European Arrest Warrant cases before the Criminal Chamber of the Audiencia Nacional (National High Court — the Spanish court with jurisdiction over serious cross-border crime), including one extradition denied through application of the principle of reciprocity.

Organized crime and offences against public health. Defense in international drug trafficking operations heard before the Audiencia Nacional, involving Europol and the Spanish Navy, with experience in a case involving more than 1,000 kg of cocaine.

Cybercrime and crypto-assets. Involvement on both the defense and private prosecution sides in investment fraud, crypto-asset theft and corporate ransomware cases, including intelligence reports from Europol's EC3 Unit, information sharing with authorities from other Member States, requests to international exchange platforms, and international judicial assistance, with experience in fraud cases exceeding 80 BTC.

Economic and corporate Criminal Law. Criminal complaints for disloyal administration, accounting fraud and punishable insolvency, and defense in proceedings of this nature. Corporate criminal liability and organizational and management compliance models. With experience in corporate proceedings exceeding 10 million euros.

HOW WE WORK

We explain. Every client has the right to understand their own case: what they are accused of, what scenarios exist, what deadlines apply, and what decisions are theirs to make. No commercial embellishment and no guarantees of outcome. If something uncomfortable needs to be said, it is said.

We work in the client's language. Relevant documentation translated, and an interpreter provided by the firm.

We choose our cases. We take on those we can handle with the depth they require. When the relationship cannot be built on full trust, we say so and recommend alternatives.

Success in a criminal defense is not about winning the trial. It is about ensuring it never takes place. We work the investigative phase with the same intensity that others reserve for the oral trial: challenging every procedural step, scrutinizing every basis for the charges, and pursuing dismissal before the trial ever opens. And when that is not possible, the work done during the investigative phase is what sustains the defense at the hearing.

In short, I understand criminal defense as a combination of legal knowledge, analytical ability, procedural strategy and absolute commitment to the case.

He holds a degree in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, training he has complemented with active participation in forums and conferences specializing in information security, where he has presented and discussed the latest trends in the field.

His professional practice has specialized in preparing forensic expert reports on metadata, a discipline in which he brings the technical rigor required for its assessment in court. This is complemented by proven experience in tracing and analyzing Bitcoin and other crypto-asset transactions, forensic analysis of software and malware, and application development — skills that make him a professional with a well-rounded profile in the field of digital evidence.

As an expert collaborator with RAKH ABOGADOS, Jorge Martínez Herrero takes part in proceedings where technological evidence proves decisive for the defense, providing rigorous and thoroughly substantiated technical analysis that reinforces the strength of the firm’s procedural strategy.

Khaoula is fluent in Classical Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, French, English and Spanish, as well as various varieties and dialects of Arabic spoken in different countries of the Middle East. This allows her to offer Arabic-speaking clients personalized attention in their native language, helping to build a strong foundation in the client/professional relationship.

She completed her secondary education (Bachillerato) in Morocco and later continued her studies in Spain, where she studied Law and Business Administration, gaining knowledge in organization, business management and the workings of administrative and professional structures.

Her personal and academic background, combined with her command of different languages, allows her to play a particularly important role within the firm in attending to and assisting clients from diverse backgrounds.

An essential profile for serving international clients

The combination of her administrative knowledge, her command of languages and her experience with people from different cultural backgrounds makes Khaoula Alami Bennani an especially important part of how the firm operates.

Her work builds a bridge of communication between the international client and the legal team, something essential when the person seeking legal assistance faces not only a legal proceeding but also an administrative and legal system different from that of their home country.

Her goal is for every client to correctly understand their situation, the steps they need to take and the progress of their case, helping to ensure that the relationship between the firm and the client is based on trust, clarity and effective communication.

In short, her profile combines legal training, organizational skill, language proficiency and intercultural understanding, bringing to the firm an internationally relevant dimension particularly valuable in immigration matters and in serving clients of different nationalities.

Rosario López Pérez has held a Law degree since 1998 and has an extensive professional career directly linked to the workings of Public Administration and the Justice system: sub-inspector at the Tax Agency (Hacienda), 15 years of procedural management at an Juzgado de Instrucción (Investigating Court — the Spanish court that conducts the pre-trial criminal investigation) and later at the Audiencia Nacional, before moving into private legal practice.

This career has given her an eminently practical knowledge of how judicial proceedings really work — case file processing, deadlines, the day-to-day workings of court offices — that goes well beyond a theoretical knowledge of the law, and which is one of her main professional strengths.

She particularly excels in Procedural Law, with an especially deep knowledge of the investigative phase of criminal proceedings from her years at an Investigating Court, and of handling particularly complex cases from her time at the Audiencia Nacional.

Her experience allows her to quickly identify procedural issues that can prove decisive for how a case develops and anticipate incidents that might otherwise go unnoticed, bringing an eminently practical dimension to the firm that complements the legal strategy of each case.