Our Team
Jesús R. Ballesteros
Lawyer and Economist
Best Lawyer of the year 2021 in Corporate and M&A Law
Jesús is Economist and Lawyer. He studied “Licenciatura de Economía´´ (Bussines and Financial Degree) at the University of Navarra, and is “Máster en Tributación´´ (Master Degree in Taxation) by Garrigues (Multinational Company of Legal Services), where he started to work at their office in Granada. After this, he worked for two well-known multinational companies, while he studied “Derecho´´ (Legal Degree) in Madrid until he finally opened Ruiz Ballesteros Lawyers and Tax Advisors at the beginning of 2006.
Jesús is a frequent collaborator of Radio Intereconomía at their program “Foro Fiscal´´, this program is based on tax advisement, Cadena Ser and Ondacero.
He wrote a Thesis at the University of Granada which he then defended before the correspondent court, obtaining the DEA in Financial and Tax Law. The title of his Thesis: “Intercambio internacional de información tributaria y Paraísos Fiscales´´ (International tax information exchange and Tax Heavens), this makes clear that he is one of the few that have delved into this aspect of the law, and this makes it easier for him to deal with all issues related to international taxation.
He is the author of the book “ Como rentabilizar tu declaración de la renta´´ (how to render your annual personal income-tax) and he is the ideologist and developer of the first legal App in Spain. Paxtum, where you can download models of all kind of legal documents.
He is an expert in the Spanish taxation system, international taxation, and corporate-commercial law. He speaks English and is the Founder and Director of our company. Ruiz Ballesteros Lawyers and Tax Advisors.
Macarena Ruiz
lawyer
Macarena holds a Law Degree and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the Complutense University of Madrid, as well as a Master’s Degree in Corporate Legal Consultancy from Garrigues.
She began her career working for the ACS Group in the New York office (USA) in the accounting department, returned to Spain to work in the legal department of the Mahou-San Miguel Group and in 2013 joined Ruiz Ballesteros Abogados y Asesores Fiscales.
Diploma of specialised studies in Urban Planning from the San Pablo CEU University.
She speaks English and began her professional career in commercial contracting and in the study and development of real estate investments.
She advises companies and develops corporate operations of mergers and acquisitions.
She has extensive experience in procedural legal defence and is the head of the Commercial Department.
Pilar Gomar
Lawyer
Pilar studied for a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and a Diploma in Business Sciences at the University of Cádiz.
She completed a Master’s in legal consulting for businesses at the European University of Madrid, where she gained extensive knowledge, specializing in artificial intelligence applied to businesses and the individuals affected by it, as well as in ethics and strategic communication tools for businesses.
She prepared for Judicial Career exams for the category of Judge for 6 years, after which she began her professional career at a prestigious law firm in Madrid, where she worked in the procedural, banking, administrative, and contentious-administrative areas, gaining significant experience in these fields. She particularly provided advice to consumers, small business owners, and self-employed individuals in their proceedings against banks and the administration.
She joined the legal department of Ruiz Ballesteros in December 2023.
Pilar Martín
Dept. legal assistant
Pilar studied Tourism at the University in Salamanca.
She started her professional career in the Tourism area in the UK, where she lived for 3 years.
In Spain she joined the International Company CBRE in Marbella where she worked for 6 years, specialising in the residential and valuations sectors.
For 10 years she has been the Director of the Residential department of Lovespain Real Estate in Marbella, managing the portfolio of international clients, carrying out all types of Real Estate transactions with clients of many different nationalities, taking care of the whole process of acquisition, contracts, deeds and post-sales.
She is fluent in English and joined Ruiz Ballesteros at the beginning of 2024.
Miguel Ángel Romero
Bachelor's Degree in Law
Miguel Ángel holds a Law degree from the University of Malaga and a Dual Master’s Degree in Advocacy and Business Law from the Garrigues Study Centre in Madrid. He was awarded a scholarship after receiving the First Prize in the VI edition of the “The Young Excellence Challenge” for his work titled “Challenges of Insolvency Law in the Face of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain.”
He has worked at other prestigious law firms such as Roca Junyent, where he gained in-depth knowledge in various areas of law, particularly procedural, commercial, and insolvency law.
Miguel Ángel has also specialized in commercial and tax legal matters, especially in the corporate sphere, through the development of several articles published in legal journals such as La Ley, where he is currently a collaborator. The titles of these articles reflect his depth and dedication, such as: “Analysis of the European Complementary Tax (Directive 2523/2022) and the Alternative Corporate Minimum Tax”, “The Novel Concept of Competition Law by the European Union (I): The Digital Markets Regulation”, “The Novel Concept of Competition Law by the European Union (II): The Digital Services Regulation”, and “Current Regulatory Models of Competition Law in Digital Markets and Services in U.S. and Chinese Legislation”.
Fluent in English, he joined Ruiz Ballesteros in July 2024 in the Commercial Law Department.
Nicole Plattner
Bachelor's Degree in Law
Nicole holds a Law degree from the University of Granada and a Dual Master’s Degree in Advocacy and International Business Law from the Garrigues Study Centre in Madrid, as well as an Executive Master’s in Digital Law.
She has worked at other prestigious law firms, gaining extensive experience in procedural law and defense in cases involving data protection or the Law on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce.
She has also completed specialized studies in Economic Criminal Law and Tax Law.
Fluent in both Italian and English, she joined the Litigation Department of Ruiz Ballesteros in September 2024.
Mónica Álvarez
Administrative
Mónica holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Philology from the University of Córdoba. She has built her professional career as a paralegal in major law firms in the Marbella area since 2000.
She worked in New York (United States) for an extended period of 7 years, gaining additional knowledge and experience.
Mónica has extensive experience working with clients across various fields, including legal, real estate, technology, and architecture, where she has held positions of varying responsibility.
She is committed to continuous learning and has pursued training in various disciplines, including Law, earning several certificates in Procedural Law from the Universities of Nebrija and Católica de Ávila.
Fluent in English, she joined Ruiz Ballesteros in October 2024.
Tax Department
Javier Ortega
economist
Javier has a degree in “Dirección y Administración de Empresas” (Business Management and Administration) from University of Malaga, he specialized in accounting and tax advice working in an office of recognized prestige for more than 16 years, joining Ruiz Ballesteros in December 2017 after the merger by absorption of Carrillo Asesores by Ruiz Ballesteros. He has developed his career as an internal consultant for companies and since 2003 as an external consultant, performing tasks of accounting, taxation and commercial law of companies from very diverse sectors.
It has also been responsible for accounting a taxation of individuals, making quarterly fiscal statements of self-employed, as well as income statements, both residents and non-residents.
His training is continuous through the development of different specialization courses. He speaks English and currently performs accounting and tax control tasks for groups of client companies.
María Calle
Economist
María is an Economist and she studied Business Administration and Management at the Universidad San Pablo Ceu in Madrid.
She began her professional career in a law firm in Madrid, in the Accounting and Tax Area, leading to PYMES and freelancers, where she worked and learned for four and a half years. Carrying out own tasks of accounting, taxation and advice of companies.
She has also worked in banking (Liberbank), specializing in customer service and commercial service, as well as in the real estate sector.
She joined Ruiz Ballesteros in November 2019.
Marina Ramírez
Economist
Marina graduated in Economics from the University of Malaga. Subsequently, she spent three years living in the UK working in various companies that helped her to perfect her English.
Marina holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Management (MBA), working in the Accounting Area at the headquarters for Spain and Portugal of the company Cash Converters, where she remained for a year and a half.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Tax Advice from the ESESA study center in Malaga.
She works as a tax advisor at Ruiz Ballesteros since December 2019 and speaks English perfectly.
María Núñez
Economist
María graduated in Finance and Accounting from the University of Economics in Malaga and completed a Master’s Degree in Taxation and Tax Consultancy at the Centro de Estudios Financieros (CEF) in Madrid.
She began her professional career in a law firm in Malaga, gaining experience in the field of accounting and taxation of large companies.
She joined the tax department of Ruiz Ballesteros in February 2022 and develops her work advising companies in the real estate, health and export and import sectors, among others. She is also a specialist in taxation of individuals, both national and foreign.
Sara Ponsati
accountant
Sara has a degree in Administration and Finance, specialising in accounting and taxation of companies and the self-employed.
She joined the corporate department of Ruiz Ballesteros in September 2021.
She currently manages a portfolio of clients from different sectors, both companies and professionals, and is developing continuous training with different taxation courses.
Internal Administration
Miguel Gajete
Evgeny Grachev
Of Counsel
Juan Carrillo
Tax advisor
Juan is the most experienced person in our company, he studied in France, where he also trained in business management.
He started working at the Ford Automobile Company in Marbella and after 6 years he moved to Renault, where he became a Director, becoming a reference in the taxation and finance of the car companies on the Costa del Sol.
He left his career in the automotive sector to dedicate himself to the tax advice of companies in 1991, for which he specialized in the Master in TAX Advice of ESINE in Madrid and later in the EADE Business School in Malaga, where he continued to update his extensive experience.
He has been working as a tax advisor for large and small companies for more than 25 years, emphasizes his continuous training and proof of this is that some of the largest companies in Marbella have always relied on his abilities.
He speaks French and English, is an expert in international taxation and non-resident.
Among the business sectors in which he carries out his work, some stand out as: automotive, Real Estate, heritage companies and family businesses.