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Knoll honored for contributions to international business law by ESADE Law School

July 21, 2015

Professor Michael S. Knoll was awarded the Aptíssimi Prize from ESADE Law School in Barcelona, Spain, in recognition of academic achievement.

On July 9, Penn Law professor Michael S. Knoll traveled to Barcelona, Spain, where he was presented with the award for academic excellence at the 8th Aptíssimi Awards organized by the ESADE Alumni Law Club. The Aptíssimi Awards honor individuals from Spain and abroad whose work has contributed to the world of business law. The honorees were recognized at a ceremony and gala at Barcelona’s National Theater of Catalonia.

“Professor Knoll is an essential scholar of tax law and policy and its connection to the global business community,” said Wendell Pritchett, Interim Dean and Presidential Professor at the Law School, after the award announcement was made in June. “We are very proud that he has received this recognition from ESADE.”

Knoll is the Theodore K. Warner Professor of Law and Professor of Real Estate, Co-Director of the Center for Tax Law and Policy, and Deputy Dean of the Law School. He was honored for his work on the application of finance principles to questions of international tax policy, particularly the connection between taxation and competitiveness.

In addition to his research on international tax policy, his research also explores the implications of domestic tax policy here in the United States. His recent scholarship on the connections between taxation and cross-border competitiveness has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online, and Tax Law Review.

“I’m deeply honored to receive this award,” said Knoll. “ESADE Law School is a leader in international business law and a vital partner to our students who are preparing for careers in international business.”

In addition to Knoll, two organizations and one other individual received Aptíssimi Awards. The Madrid-based international construction and infrastructure conglomerate Ferrovial was named best legal department, and the Escuela Judicial received the award for contribution to industry for its work selecting and training judges and magistrates.

José Pedro Pérez-Llorca received the outstanding career award. Pérez-Llorca, a lawyer, politician, and diplomat, was one of the seven-member panel that drafted the Spanish Constitution of 1978. 

ESADE Law School in Barcelona is one of the six foreign institutions that currently have formal study abroad partnerships with Penn Law. Students who are interested in the study of international business law and are admitted to the program can spend part of their 3L year at ESADE.

In addition to his work with international tax law, Knoll’s scholarship also looks into domestic tax law and its connection to business. He recently spoke on Penn Law’s podcast, Case in Point, about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Comptroller v. Wynne, in which the majority opinion heavily relied upon a brief filed by Knoll and a co-author that draws on their recent scholarship on taxes and competitiveness. 

Professor Knoll teaches courses on taxation and business at the Law School, and in April he led a group of students on a trip to Washington, D.C., for an immersive tax law experience as part of the Model Government Service and Public Affairs Initiative.