Maria Barbancho is a criminal defense lawyer based in Spain, admitted to the Bar in 2015, with a strong international practice focused on cross-border criminal cases, extradition and INTERPOL matters. She represents individuals facing complex investigations involving multiple jurisdictions and has acted in cases with parallel proceedings across the EU, the UK, Latin America and German-speaking countries. Her work frequently involves defending clients against politically or commercially motivated prosecutions and addressing serious due process concerns, including violations of the right to a fair trial and misuse of international police cooperation mechanisms. Alongside her defense practice, Maria is actively involved in legal education and academic work. She is a regular lecturer in criminal law practice at the Barcelona Bar Association’s LL.M. (Máster de Acceso a la Abogacía), and she has been appointed as Spain’s legal expert in numerous EU-funded and European-law projects dealing with procedural rights, defence cooperation, and cross-border criminal justice. Maria has been invited to speak before the Comisión de Relaciones con la Administración de Justicia of the Spanish Parliament, where she has advocated for the protection of lawyer–client privilege and procedural guarantees. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences and professional trainings on international cooperation, extradition, and INTERPOL reform. In addition to her work in Spain, Maria regularly provides expert evidence before UK courts on Spanish criminal procedure, European Arrest Warrant practices and cross-border defence rights. Fluent in Spanish, Catalan, English and German, she routinely collaborates with international defence teams and advises clients on risks related to INTERPOL Red Notices, extradition proceedings and multi-state investigations.

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