Mexican Lawyers have awarded Ángela Aparisi Miralles, professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Navarra, the distinction of Honorary Lawyer. The Mexican Bar Association - an institution homologous to the Bar Associations in Spain - granted the distinction for the professional career of the academic, "deeply committed to the defense of human rights and justice".

The event took place in Mexico City and was attended by, among others, Gabriel Ortiz, president of the Mexican Bar Association; Gonzalo Alarcón, president of the Professional Ethics Commission of the Mexican Bar Association; and Felipe Ibáñez, member of the Commission.

In her speech of gratitude, Professor Aparisi congratulated the Bar for its constant effort to promote professional ethics, and its tireless tenacity in the pursuit of excellence in the daily work of Mexican lawyers.

Aparisi affirmed that current societies are "hardly conceivable without the figure of the lawyer", since they are an "essential element for the realization of Justice". Among other functions, "the lawyer ensures the proper advice to clients, the principle of contradiction, the equality of the parties, both in a process and outside it; and, especially, guarantees the right of defense, an essential requirement of effective judicial protection, a basic pillar of the rule of law," explained the professor.

The effective achievement of these principles and rights and, in final, the full fulfillment of the social function inherent to the legal profession, will depend, fundamentally, on the correct practice of the profession. "In this field, the professional deontology of the lawyer has an irreplaceable role", he emphasized.

During her stay in Mexico, Professor Aparisi also presented, at the Bar Association, her last book Deontología profesional del Abogado (Tirant lo Blanch, 2013).