The origin of our Firm can be traced to the foundation of Dr. Juan Balestra Law Firm. He enriched the Criminal Law with his contributions and learned how to deal with the problems of his time, sharing his wisdom with all the people who continued his works for the public welfare. Dr. Juan Balestra has been a true believer of the Criminal Science, was the author of -among others- the book "El Noventa", and has served as a public servant numerous times, including specially his appointment as Minister of Justice and Public Instruction during the administration of President Carlos Pellegrini. (1890)

The history of the Firm was later enhanced by Dr. Carlos Fontán Balestra who, with an untiring vocation of contributing to the Science of Criminal Law, was the author of several legal books, among which it is worth highlighting "El Hombre y el Delito" (1941), "Criminología y Educación" (1943), "Delitos Sexuales" (1945), "Manual de Derecho Penal" (1949/53), "Derecho Penal, parte general" (1953), "Derecho Penal, parte especial" (1951), "Reformas al Código Penal" (1963), and "Tratado de Derecho Penal" (seven tomes, 1970).

During his long career, Dr. Carlos Fontán Balestra has had many academic positions, e.g. Main Professor of Criminal Law at Buenos Aires University School of Law, at La Plata University and at Salvador University; Director of the Doctoral Department and the Criminal Law Institute at Salvador University; member of the Commission to Reform the Penal Code, Director of the Criminal Law and Criminology Journal of "La Ley" (publisher), and Dean of Salvador University School of Law (1971-1973). In addition, during his sixty six years of life he made big contributions by translating to Spanish legal works of the most prestigious academics in German Criminal Law (Welzel, Graf zu Dhona, Bockelmann, etc.), and he has accepted several positions in different scientific societies, e.g. the International, Argentina and San Pablo (Brazil) criminologist societies, as well as the International Criminal and Penitentiary Institute and the Comparative Law Institute of Toulouse University.

Since 1976 Fontán Balestra & Asociados has been in charge of Dr. Carlos Fontán Balestra (II) who, based on the academic tradition of his predecessors, gave to the Firm a strong professional impulse, placing it undoubtedly within the most important ones in the country.

Indeed, once he got his law degree, Dr. Carlos Fontán Balestra (II) dedicated himself to the academic and investigative field, becoming a Professor at Salvador University, where he also gained his Doctoral degree en Criminal Sciences. After his father passed away, he got in charge of the Firm and decided to get it stronger by incorporating lawyers and partners in order to provide the best and broadest legal service in criminal counseling and litigation to all kinds of clients. Besides, for many years he has acted as counselor of diverse welfare entities and Non Governmental Organizations, such as "COAS" and "Conciencia", and in some occasions he accepted to provide his counseling services within some companies by assuming positions such as Chairman of the Board of "Telefe S.A." (the most successful TV channel for the last 15 years) and "A.T.A." (entity that represents all the private TV channels in Argentina).