Melissa Elechiguerra Labarca

Melissa Elechiguerra Labarca is a Researcher at the University of Deusto's Deusto School of Law since January 2011. She holds a PhD in Law (Summa Cum Laude) with a European mention, focusing on constitutional guarantees in tax law. Her academic background includes postgraduate degrees from Complutense University of Madrid, University of Deusto, and Erasmus Mundus programs in Transnational Trade Law and Finance.

Her research interests span Tax Law, Administrative Law, and European Legal Systems. Notable works include analyzing Bizkaia's normative power in transnational contexts (2012) and the right to not self-incriminate in tax procedures (2014 PhD thesis). She has held visiting researcher positions at the European University Institute, University of Strasbourg, and Max Planck Institute for Tax Law.

Dr. Elechiguerra has professional experience as a lawyer in Venezuela's tax sector and at the Central Bank of Venezuela. She contributed to the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality division during a 2011 traineeship.