Award Categories
LEGAL TEAM OF THE YEAR SPAIN
Winner
Google Spain
Led by María González Ordóñez, Head of Legal Spain, Portugal, UK, Israel and SSA
Since twentieth-century laws don’t always solve twenty-first-century problems, the team had to adopt innovative approaches
to tackling some of the toughest legal challenges of the information age. The legal team was heavily involved in the defence
of the “right to be forgotten” case before the CJEU. Following the ruling in 2014, the team worked around the clock to ensure
Google’s compliance with the decision, launching an online form allowing individuals to exercise their right, and handling a
vast amount of delisting requests addressed to the company on a case-by-case basis. The team also achieved successful
outcomes concerning two lawsuits related to Google’s keyword advertising business, AdWords, and played a key role in the
launch of YouTube Kids and the Google Arts & Culture channel dedicated to Cervantes.
Finalist
Danone Finalist
Aena Finalist
Bayer Iberia
Led by Francesc Casajuana Cuscó
General counsel Led by Juan Carlos Alfonso Rubio
General Counsel and Secretary of
the Board Led by Julieta Acuña Álvarez-Uría
Head of Legal, Compliance Officer,
Data Privacy and Secretary of the Board
LAWYER OF THE YEAR 2018 IBERIA
Winner
Eduardo Arbizu, General Counsel, BBVA Group
Led by Luis Alberto Cárdenas, Head of corporate and commercial legal affairs
Eduardo Arbizu manages a team of lawyers that, with more than 1,200 professionals, is comparable to the largest law firms
in the world. In more than 15 years an the bank, Arbizu has overcome multiple challenges ranging from the integration of
banking entities around the world, inorganic growth in Latin America, the US and Asia, and overcoming the most important
financial crisis in history. He is also responsible for the more than 100 M&A operations that the bank analyses each year,
among which the sale to Scotiabank of more than $2billion worth of assets stands out, as does the sale to Cerberus of 80 per
cent of its real estate portfolio for $4 billion. Arbizu has been at the forefront of the digital transformation of BBVA - in 2017,
BBVA acquired the Mexican company Openpay, a fintech start-up specialising in online payments.
Finalist
José Julio Figueroa
Head of Legal, Acciona
Energía
Finalist
Maria Luz Medrano, Group Vice
General Counsel & Corporate Legal
Services, Telefónica