Universidad Europea de Valencia, through its Master's Degree in Legal Practice, organized a Master Class called “Criminal liability of legal entities: The Supreme Court's interpretation.” Last Friday, May 13, a crowded auditorium filled with students of the Bachelor's Degree in Law, the Master's Degree in Legal Practice and the Graduate Degree in Compliance Expertise, as well as a large number of practitioners of the law, attended an interesting discussion on compliance and its interpretation by different judicial institutions.
The Master Class was given by Magistrate of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court Francisco Monterde; Procedural Judge in Central Court number 6 of the National Court Alejandro Cabanes; Valencia Provincial Court Prosecutor and Universidad Europea de Valencia Professor Javier Roda; as well as Universidad Europea de Valencia Professors Benjamín Prieto and Iñaki Planas.
Based on case studies and existing case law, they all offered their point of view on the criminal liability of legal entities and mentioned the usefulness of this lecture-based class, given that since compliance is a new legal issue, there is still no consensus on its application. Both Alejandro Cabanes and Francisco Monterde indicated that “we have to go case by case, with caution, as the reputational damage it could cause is significant.”