OUR SCHOLARSHIPS GIRLS

Outstanding career, making the most of her time and of all the opportunities that were put in front of her. Now she is trying to secure her future through a competitive examination in which we wish her the best of luck.

My name is Ana María Manzorro Laaraj and I had the honour of being awarded a scholarship by the Association of University Women of Marbella (AMUM) in the summer of the academic year 2019/2020. Without a doubt, this recognition was a great boost to start my career in the world of Law, a vocation that was clear to me from a very young age.

I remember that, at the beginning of my degree, I attended a talk given by the dean of my faculty. Of all his words, there was one sentence that left a deep impression on me: ‘You can let the university go through you, or you can go through it’.  Since then, that reflection has guided me at every step: I decided to live my time at university with an active, participative attitude and a desire for constant growth. With that mentality, I took advantage of all the opportunities that the university offered me.

One of the first goals I set myself was to develop my public speaking skills, which are essential in legal practice. Thus, I joined the ADUMA debating association, with which I was a semi-finalist in my university’s internal tournament and had the privilege of representing my faculty in national competitions such as the Three Cultures Tournament. Thanks to this experience, I understood how fundamental the spoken word is in the legal field. This last reflection motivated me to apply for the MUA Talent Summer Camp at ESADE (Law School). Being selected to participate in this programme, whose main selection criterion was academic excellence, was a real honour. During this experience, fully funded by the school, I had the opportunity to litigate before active judges in Barcelona, develop real legal skills and share experiences with students from all over Spain with common interests. A transformative experience that only reinforced my passion for law.

Another of my goals was not to finish my degree without having had practical experience in a professional office. Therefore, in the third year of my degree I decided to take advantage of the opportunity that life offered me to join Garrigues, one of the most prestigious firms in Spain, specialising in legal and tax services with international projection. After passing a demanding selection process consisting of several tests, I obtained an internship in the Commercial Law area, a training stay that would eventually be extended and that would allow me to continue learning and working alongside top professionals. During this time, I had the opportunity to participate in complex matters related to large companies and multinationals, which contributed decisively in consolidating my training and professional perspective.

In the last year of my degree, I had to carry out a more investigative task, the Final Degree Project. I decided to dedicate it to a subject that I am deeply passionate about: LegalTech and Artificial Intelligence. It was a demanding challenge, marked by the scarce bibliography available at the time and the need to build the project practically from scratch. However, it was that very feeling of exploring a terrain that had not yet been explored that motivated me the most. I felt that I was breaking new ground in a field with enormous potential for the future. This research not only allowed me to merge my legal vocation with my interest in technology but also reaffirmed my desire to continue deepening this line of study.

And it all started, in large part, thanks to the support and trust that AMUM placed in me.

I am currently immersed in the exciting and demanding world of the competitive examination. However, I am very clear that, once I get my place, that will not be the end of the road. My vocation for law goes beyond that, so after obtaining my place I would love to do a Master’s degree and a doctoral thesis, which I will try to combine with my work. These are my next two main objectives.

After four intense and rewarding years of study, I am grateful every day for the opportunity to study what I am really passionate about. Law is, without a doubt, the driving force behind my personal and professional development. And it all began, in large part, thanks to the support and trust that AMUM placed in me.