José María is a partner at Santillán Abogados, with an education that includes a degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence and a law degree for the Courts of the Republic and Bachelor of Legal and Social Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, and a Master in Business Law from the Universidad de Vitoria. He has worked for several prestigious Spanish firms: Clifford Chance, Cuatrecasas, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Garrigues, Gómez Acebo & Pombo, Pérez Llorca; and, Uría & Menéndez.

His ongoing desire to seek out professional growth and transcendence has drawn him to his work as professor of Labor Law, Economic Law, and Business Environment at the Faculty of Law of the University of the Americas UDLA in the city of Quito, and of International Economic Law and International Negotiation at the Faculty of Human Sciences and International Relations of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. In addition, he has taught courses on negotiation, labor matters, business regulations, and legal aspects for different universities and public and private institutions of recognized prestige in Ecuador. Additionally, he has published numerous articles on legal topics, highlighting, among others, those referring to: Misleading Advertising, First Demand Guarantee, Syndicated Credit, Consumer Rights, and Advertising Regulation on the Internet.

He specializes in corporate law and, especially, public and private contracting, labor matters, alternative conflict resolution through mediation, direct negotiation and arbitration, and from 2014 to 2017, he served as Seventeenth Substitute Notary of the Quito Canton, after qualification by the Judicial Council of the Republic of Ecuador.