María Massó
Biography
María is a partner in the area of Criminal Litigation, Compliance and Investigations. Her work mainly focuses on advising in connection with the prosecution or defense in cases involving corporate crime, tax crimes, crimes involving property, public order, misappropriation, fraud, malfeasance or punishable insolvency, as well as pre-litigation and preventive counsel on criminal law and corporate compliance.
Over her professional career she has come before the National Court on numerous occasions to advise clients as well as lead proceedings, acting at times as defender and others as prosecutor. In addition, she has led the criminal defense in proceedings involving the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
She provides counsel to both national and international clients, helping them to develop, implement and update their compliance programs. She has extensive experience in leading and collaborating in internal investigations related to regulatory non-compliance. She also takes part in compliance training and awareness programs at different organizations.
Practice Focus
She joined Baker McKenzie in 2008 as an authority in Criminal Law within the Litigation and Compliance Department and was appointed as partner of said department in 2017.
Ranked in Band 2 by "Chambers and Partners", under the category of "White Collar Crimes" and she was mentioned as one of the "Top 10" criminal lawyers in the ranking published by "Iberian Lawyers".
She was recently selected as one of the 20 Leading Women in the Spanish Legal Sector by the magazine "Economist & Jurist".
She has been involved in the criminal defense of both companies and individuals in cases with a high media profile such as the Lezo Case, the Rato Case, the Villarejo Case, the Taula Case, the DEFEX Case, the Banco Popular Case, the Gürtel Case, the Rueda Case, the HSBC Case, Papeles de Bárcenas, SGAE, and ERE Andalucía.
Professional Honors
- Leading Partner, White-Collar Crime, Legal 500 (2025)
- Band 2, Dispute Resolution: Corporate Crime, Chambers and Partners Europe (2025)
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Panelist, International Bar Association (IBA): “White Collar Crimes: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace” (Madrid, November 4, 2022)
- Speaker, Fundación Ramón Areces and Fundación Corell: Conferences on corporate criminal liability
- Lecturer, Wolters Kluwer: Courses on corporate criminal liability
- Lecturer, Universidad Complutense (CES Cisneros) (since 2020): Corporate Criminal Law Specialization Program
- Professor, Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) (since 2016): Teaches “European Cross-Border Corporate and Financial Crimes” in the Master’s in International and European Business Law
- Member, Working Group for the Independent Audit on Abuse within the Church, appointed by the Spanish Episcopal Conference
- Member, Spanish Chapter of the Women's White Collar Defense Association
- Member, Madrid Bar Association
Admissions
- Madrid~Spain (2006)
Education
- Escuela Práctica Jurídica (Course Criminal Forensic Practice and Procedural Criminal Law) (2008)
- Comillas Pontifical University (ICADE) (Law Degree) (2006)
- Comillas Pontifical University (ICADE) (Program International Relations) (2006)
Languages
- English
- French
- Spanish