Interview with Manuel Larrotcha

Manuel Larrotcha is Managing Partner of LDC Abogados in Madrid.

Tell us about your background.

My first experience was as a company lawyer, but I soon realized that I was getting pigeonholed into just a few specialties, then I realized that my true vocation was private practice, since it allows me to see a different case every day and meet different people with different problems.

Did you always know you wanted to be a Lawyer?

Not always, even in adolescence I had a reputation for being a person who liked to discuss and argue, it may be that at that moment I started thinking about becoming a lawyer.

What motivated you to pursue this degree?

When the time came to choose a degree, I thought it was the one that offered me the most job opportunities and that would not pigeonhole me into a specific job. In addition, it is a degree that gives you knowledge that will always be very useful no matter what you do in life.

What satisfactions has this career given you?

The main one is seeing that you solve people's problems. Each client who knocks on your door comes with a problem under their arm and it is very gratifying to see that you can help them get rid of that problem, lessen it or come through a bad experience in their life. The best satisfaction is seeing that people are truly relieved to get rid of a debt, collect money they were not being paid or be compensated for some harm. In the degree my Civil Law professor used to say that being a Lawyer was the most important career in the world, even more than that of a doctor who saves lives, now with my professional experience I understand it when I see the distress of some people, especially in family disputes.

What must you do to succeed in a field as competitive as Law?

Know how to reason, have logic and common sense and especially, know how to anticipate what may happen and thereby make your client see it and value it.

What qualities should a young person who wants to start studying Law possess?

Patience to understand how Law and its procedures work.

If you had someone in front of you who is about to start their studies in Law, what advice would you give them?

The advice I would give them is that in addition to theory, they should try to gain as much practical experience as possible, visiting courts and asking people they know who work in the legal sector. The main risk to keep in mind is that there is often a big difference between what you read in a Law and how it is put into practice and its implications.