Born in Madrid on 10 June 1958
Holder of a Degree in Law awarded by the Autonomous University of Madrid (1975-1980).
1. PROFESSIONAL CAREER
- Entered the Judiciary after passing the civil service competitive examination in 1984.
- Started working for the State Prosecutor’s Office after passing the civil service competitive examination in 1984.
- Began working in the Category of Specialised Magistrate-Judges for Contentious-Administrative Matters after passing the civil service competitive examination in 1993.
1.1. Roles served within the Judiciary:
- 1984 - Judge of the Court in San Mateo, Castellón de la Plana.
- 1993 to 1997 - Specialist Magistrate-Judge in the Chamber of Contentious-Administrative Matters of the High Court of Justice of the Autonomous Region
of Valencia.
- 1997 to 2005 - Specialist Magistrate-Judge in the Chamber of Contentious-Administrative Matters of the National High Court.
- 2005 to 2010 - President of the Chamber of Contentious-Administrative Matters of the National High Court.
- 29 September 2008 to 29 April 2009 - Acting president of the National High Court.
- 23 March 2010 to date - Magistrate-Judge of the Third Chamber (for Contentious-Administrative Matters) of the Supreme Court.
- 12 December 2013 to date - President of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary.
1.2. Roles served within the State Prosecutor’s Office:
- 1984 - Lawyer for the State Prosecutor’s Office in the Provincial Court of Alicante.
- 1985 to 1992 - Prosecutor at the High Court of Justice of the Autonomous Region of Madrid.
- 1992 to 1993 - Prosecutor before the Constitutional Court.
1.3. Roles served in situation of special services in the Judiciary:
- 24 May 1996 to 12 May 2000 - Director General of Conscientious Objection (Ministry of Justice).
- 13 May 2000 to 23 April 2004 - Director General of Relations with the Judicial Administration (Ministry of Justice).
2. PUBLICATIONS
2.1. Books:
- “Tax Offences” (various authors). Published by the Spanish Ministry of Justice. 1988.
- “Administrative Criminal Law” (various authors), Comares publishing house, Granada, 1997.
- “Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. Comments on Law 29/1998 of 13 July, regulating Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction” (various authors), Publishing house Abella El Consultor, Madrid, 1998.
- “Keys for reforming Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction” (various authors), Studies on Judicial Law, the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama, Judicial School. Panama City, Panama 2000.
- “Internet Law; Electronic Contracts and Digital Signatures” (various authors), Publishing house Aranzadi, Madrid, 2000.
- “The State Pact for the Reform of the Justice System” (various authors), Ed. Centre for Constitutional and Political Studies, Madrid 2002.
- “Ethics of the Legal Professions. Studies on Deontology”, (various authors), Ed. San Antonio Catholic University, 2004.
- “Data Protection Law. Analysis and commentary on its case-law”. Ed. Lex Nova. 2008.
- “Comments on the Law on Public Sector Contracts”, (various authors), Ed. Bosch. April 2009.
- Coordinator of the work “Guide to the New Law on Public Sector Contracts”. Ed. El Derecho. November 2009.
- Editor of the commented work, with structured caselaw and concordances, “The Organic Law on the Judiciary”. Ed. El Derecho. October 2010.
- Editor of the commented work, with structured caselaw and concordances, The Law on the Legal Regime of the Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure”. Ed. El Derecho.
- Editor of the commented work, with structured caselaw and concordances, “The Law Regulating Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction”. Ed. El Derecho.
- General coordinator, from 2011 to 2013, of the work Supreme Court Collection” from the publishing house Francis Lefebvre - El Derecho (collection made up of the main Codes of the various jurisdictions).
2.2. Articles:
- “The legal classification of retention or repercussion and non-payment of Personal Income Tax, VAT or Corporation Tax contributions”. In the Spanish jurisprudence journal “Ledico”. 1990.
- “Possession via the use of narcotics or similar substances: criminal consideration”. In the Spanish jurisprudence journal “Ledico”. 1990.
- “Accounting Crime”. In Studies by the State Prosecutor's Office, No. II-1995.
- “The Guardianship of the Corporate Administration”. Cuadernos de Derecho Judicial [Judicial Law Journal]. 2001.
- “Information and Administration Technologies: the need for a global change”, Cuadernos de Derecho Judicial [Judicial Law Journal]. 2000.
- “Reform of the Judicial Administration in the General State Budget of 2003”, In Public Spending and Budget, The Spanish Institute of Fiscal Studies.
- “The evolution of Asylum Law in Europe. Asylum as an international system of protection against gender violence”. Estudios de Derecho Judicial [a Judicial Law
Journal], No. 81, year 2005.
- “Administrative Control of Scientific Activity and Data Protection in Assisted Human Reproduction” [Control administrativo de la actividad científica y Protección de
Datos de la reproducción humana asistida]. Cuadernos de Derecho Judicial [Judicial Law Journal]. No. XI year 2006.
- “The outsourcing of public services”, Cuadernos de Derecho Judicial [Judicial Law Journal]. No. XII year 2007.
- “The EU context of the new Law on Public Sector Contracts”. Revista de Jurisprudencia [Case Law Journal] No. 2, April 2008.
- “Free movement of people within the EU. The Statute of Political Immigrants”. Estudios de Derecho Judicial [a Judicial Law Journal], No. 132, year 2008.
3. DIRECTOR OF SEMINARS AND COURSES
Directed or coordinated various seminars and courses, both in a national and international context, and participated in multiple activities as an expert at round
tables or as a speaker.
Adjoined in ANNEX I are details of these activities, indicating the topics dealt with.
4. TEACHING ACTIVITIES
- Speaker on various training courses for Magistrates and Judges, Prosecutors and Judicial Administration Clerks, organised by the General Council of the Judiciary, The General State Prosecutor's Office and the Centre for Legal Studies of
the Judicial Administration.
- Training candidates for the competitive civil service exams to enter the Judiciary and the State Prosecutor’s Office. 1988 to 1996.
- Teacher on the Practical Course on Procedural Law for the Legal Service at the Higher Centre for Legal, Tax and Business Studies in Valencia. In 1995 and 1996.
- Teacher on the “Masters in Political Action”, from 2003 to 2011. Subject: “The Executive Power”. Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid.
- Professor of Constitutional Law and Public Liberties at the European University in Madrid since the academic year 2009-2010.
5. EXPERIENCE IN PLANNING, ORGANISING AND MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES AND MATERIALS
Carried out the following roles in the General State Administration between 1996 and 2004:
- 24 May 1996 to 12 May 2000 - General Manager of Conscientious Objection (Ministry of Justice).
- 13 May 2000 to 23 April 2004 - Director General of Relations with the Judicial Administration (Ministry of Justice).
In the first of these roles, between 1996 and 2000 he managed a budget of over 4 billion pesetas annually (approximately 24 million euros), a team of over 250
civil servants and the organisation and planning of alternative civil service throughout the whole country, which in the year 1999 alone affected more than 100,000 young people in Spain.
At the General Directorate for Relations with the Judicial Administration, the responsibilities were very varied: Of particular note are:
- Budget management: the 142A budget programme (Judicial Administration and State Prosecutor's Office), of section 13 of the General State Budgets (Ministry of Justice), which was managed by that General Directorate, was over 1 billion euros in 2003 (more than 170 billion pesetas).
- Staff management: over 16,000 civil servants working for the Judicial Administration, 2,800 Judicial Administration Clerks and 1,700 Prosecutors, as well as other staff such as forensic practitioners and staff of the National Toxicology Institute
- Developing the Jurisdictional Bodies and Judicial Boundaries.
- National Toxicology Institute and Institutes of Legal Medicine, dependent on the Ministry of Justice.
- Guardianship of the Corporate Administration dependent on the Ministry: General Council of the Spanish Bar Association.
- Subsidy and monitoring of the Free Legal Aid service provided by the Spanish Bar Association.
- Processing of files on financial liability due to abnormal functioning of the Judicial
Administration and as a result of court error.
- Central Registry of Criminal Records. Registry of Civil Defaulters. Juvenile Register.
- Coordination of the Autonomous Regions with delegated competencies in matters of Judicial Administration. The Director General fulfils the role of Secretary of the Conference Sector of the Judicial Administration.
6. EXPERIENCE IN SELECTION PROCEDURES AND PROPOSING APPOINTMENTS
6.1.- The President of the General Council of the Judiciary exercises various powers which, in this context, correspond to the Plenary of the Council:
- Proposing the appointment of two Magistrate-Judges to the Constitutional Court.
- Issuing a prior report on the appointment of the State Prosecutor General.
- Appointing the Vice-President of the Supreme Court.
- Appointing all of the judicial roles of a discretionary nature (Magistrate-Judges of the
Supreme Court, President of the Spanish High Court and its Chambers, Presidents of the High Courts of Justice and their Chambers and the Presidents of the Provincial Courts).
- Appointing the Secretary General and Vice-Secretary General of the General Council of the Judiciary.
- Selecting Lawyers in the service of the General Council of the Judiciary
6.2.- By Decision 2017/2262, of the Council of the European Union, of December 4, 2017, he has been appointed member of the Committee provided for in
Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. From this date, he attends the meetings held every month by this Committee in Brussels, whose function is to decide on the suitability of the candidates for the exercise of the duties of
judge and general counsel of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the EU, before the governments of the Member States make the appointments.
7. EXPERIENCE IN MANAGING JUDICIAL PERSONNEL AND GOVERNING COURTS
As President of the General Council of the Judiciary he chairs and directs all of the sessions of the Standing Committee of the Council, which meets a minimum of
once a week to study and adopt decisions on different subjects relating to the management of the Judiciary and the governing of the courts, in particular:
- Selection of judges and magistrates and entry into the Judiciary.
- Granting of roles, promotions, administrative status and disciplinary regime for judges and magistrates.
- Inspection of courts and organisational measures for judicial activities.
- Systems for streamlining, organising and measuring the work of the courts.
- Handling complaints and claims from citizens.
- Official publication, processing and dissemination of judicial rulings.
Especially noteworthy in this context are the functions relating to the training and professional development of judges. As President of the General Council of the Judiciary and its Standing Committee, he also presides over the Governing Body of the
Judicial School, the body responsible for, among other functions, approving the programmes for both initial and continuous training, on which the theory
and practical courses for selecting and training judges and magistrates are based.
8. PARTICIPATION IN PROPOSALS FOR THE MODIFICATION OF REGULATIONS
Responsible for drawing up numerous bills and draft bills relating to the organisation of the judiciary, the statute on members of the Judiciary and State Prosecutor’s Office, the right to free legal aid and the right to conscientious objection. Adjoined in ANNEX II are details of the most relevant laws.
9. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES
- Mission to pre-identify areas of technical cooperation for the creation of a judicial reform project of the administrative jurisdiction in Colombia between 10 and 17 September 2006.
The specific objective of the visit was:
1. Support for the AECI/OTC Colombia in identifying a project for judicial reform focused on administrative jurisdiction.
2. Participation as an international expert in the 12th Conference on Administrative Jurisdiction in Valledupar.
- In his current phase as President of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary, he undertakes intensive activity strengthening cooperation and international relations, especially in the context of the European Union and in the Ibero-
American sphere, in particular:
o Permanent institutional relations with the European counterparts of the General Council of the Judiciary that are part of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (which, since June 2016, has been presided over by a member of the General Council ofthe Judiciary of the Kingdom of Spain.
o Permanent institutional relations with the European counterparts of the Supreme Court that are members of the Network of Presidents of the Supreme Courts of the
European Union (the Network’s last annual Colloquium was held in October 2016 in the
Supreme Court of Spain.
o Permanent institutional relations as part of the Association of Councils of State and
Administrative Supreme Courts of the European Union (ACA Europe).
o Leadership at the Ibero-American Judicial Summit, the Permanent Secretariat of which has been exercised by the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary since April 2016.
o Multiple meetings and signing of bilateral cooperation agreements.
10. PRIZES AND AWARDS
- He has been appointed Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor of France, by decree of the President of the French Republic dated April 6, 2018.
- Great Cross of the Order of San Raimundo de Peñafort, awarded via Royal Decree 498/2013 of 21 June.
- Gold medal from the Spanish League for Human Rights, awarded in 1997 for work carried out for Conscientious Objection.
- Medal of political merit with white distinction, awarded by the Minister of the Interior.
11. LANGUAGES
- Knowledge of spoken and written French.
- Basic comprehension of English.