28 March 2026
Donostia-San Sebastián
On Saturday, 28 March, the graduation ceremony for the 2024–2025 graduating class in Law and Law + Communication took place on the San Sebastian campus of the University of Deusto. This is the first class of Law graduates on the San Sebastian campus who are not enrolled in a combined degree, that is, those who have not taken the double degrees in Business Administration + Law or Law + Communication. The ceremony was held at the Loiola Centrum and was presided over by the Vice-Rector for the San Sebastian Campus and Institutional Relations of the University of Deusto, María José Aranguren Querejeta, and attended by representatives from the university faculty and staff from Deusto Law School and the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. Participants in the graduation ceremony included, among others: José Ramón Intxaurbe (Dean of Deusto Law School), Ane Ferran Zubillaga (Dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences), Jon López Gorostidi (Vice-Secretary of Deusto Law School), Itziar Alonso Agirre (Law graduate), and Alba Margüello Prieto (Law + Communication graduate). Elías López Pérez SJ blessed the new graduating class, and Oier Lopetegi Bonachea and Adriana Jodra Ripalda, representing the Law students, and Inés Hernanz Fernández-Montes and June Garrido Setién, representing the Law + Communication students, delivered moving speeches in which they reflected on their years of study, highlighting they had lived through and the knowledge and skills they had acquired. They also took the opportunity to express their gratitude to the university’s teaching and support staff, as well as to their families and friends.
The Easo Choir performed during the musical interlude (soprano and piano), as well as at the opening of the ceremony, singing Agur Jaunak, and at the end of the event, singing Gaudeamus Igitur. Lorenzo Goikoetxea, President of the Biscay Commission of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country, presented the Juan de Churruca Award (10th edition) for the best Law Final Year Dissertation to Law + Communication graduate Eneritz Aduriz Esnaola.
Marijo Aranguren, Vice-Rector for the San Sebastian Campus and Institutional Relations, congratulated the new graduates and offered the following advice for their professional future: to be able to pursue their dreams while finding meaning in life and work; to align mind, heart, and hands in order to apply the knowledge they have acquired to improve the lives of others, act with empathy and ethics in every professional decision, and contribute to the development of society; and to build alliances to achieve greater impact: "As lawyers and communicators, your mission goes beyond professional practice: you are the new architects of social cohesion. In a context of wars and blatant injustices, your responsibility is twofold: the law must act as a barrier against arbitrariness and abuse; communication must rise above the noise of propaganda to recover the truth. You are not mere observers of crisis, but guarantors that, in the face of the chaos of bullets and fake news, legal certainty, ethical messaging, and above all, human dignity remain non-negotiable guides. At the same time, the Basque Country, and particularly Gipuzkoa, is an industrial region composed of internationalised small and medium-sized enterprises, with a culture rooted in cooperation. Your legal knowledge and communication skills will be essential to improving societal development and quality of life, combining local roots with a global vision."
It was also José Ramón Intxaurbe, Dean of Deusto Law School, who congratulated the new graduates, and especially Eneritz Aduriz Esnaola, Law + Communication graduate, for receiving the Juan de Churruca Award for the best Final Year Dissertation. In his speech, he also emphasised the following points: “In a context marked by profound social, cultural, and technological transformations, the University is called to respond with creative fidelity to the challenges of our time, drawing on the strength of its identity and mission.” Intxaurbe highlighted as a first challenge the provision of holistic support, placing the individual at the centre to foster their moral and professional maturity. Secondly, he emphasised the University as a space for discernment against simplicity and populism, combating misinformation through critical thinking and intellectual rigour. Thirdly, he advocated for democratic coexistence and social justice, urging lawyers not to remain neutral and to safeguard institutions against abuses of power. Finally, he highlighted the sense of community over individualism, appealing to the 140-year tradition of the University of Deusto. Intxaurbe concluded his speech by encouraging the new graduates to practise law with honesty and civic commitment, reminding them that the University will continue to be their academic home as they face future challenges with responsibility and an ethical outlook.
These have been years of intense effort, culminating in this day of celebration, not only for the graduates themselves, but also for their families, who have supported them with such dedication, and for the University itself, which takes great satisfaction in seeing its mission of service fulfilled in support of a society more committed to the values of justice and equality.
