About

Timo Spitzer achieved many significant accolades in 2019, in particular the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Award for Global General Commercial Individual of the Year in New York City and the ACC European Counsel Award in the same category in London. These prestigious trophies recognize Spitzer’s outstanding legal and communication skills, efficiency, commercial awareness and leadership excellence across geographies. As the only invitee from Continental Europe, Spitzer spoke at The Legal500’s Enterprise GC event in London on corporate sustainability and legal innovation. Other performances at important gatherings included addressing over 100 international general counsel at a summit in Spain, and talking about leadership with integrity at the International Bar Association Digital Operations conference. Spitzer also returned to Harvard Law School to present his second lecture following his 2018 talk on international sanction provisions, this time speaking about sustainable leadership in a highly regulated and tech-reliant environment. Harvard Business Law Review will publish his corresponding article, which the editors ‘firmly believe adds significant value to the field’. Spitzer continues lecturing as an adjunct professor at the Frankfurt Institute for Law and Finance in one of the global Top 10 LL.M. programs on banking and securities law as recognized by LL.M. Guide. He is also an avid advocate for the next generation of female leaders, for instance by assisting WFA in Madrid to empower women to grow up with strong values and confidence. Furthermore, Spitzer is an advisory board member of Business Law Magazine, published by Frankfurt Business Media, the specialist publisher of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and of the German Institute for Legal Departments and Corporate Lawyers (diruj). Spitzer possesses a unique skill set for any lawyer, having formerly spent many years in private practice and working for international financial institutions around the globe. He fully integrates his work with Santander’s business teams in order to mitigate commercial and reputational risk and achieve all parties’ objectives in a legally and ethically-sound manner. Spitzer’s vision of the general counsel as an integral part of senior management is extremely relevant, as only a strong and independent leader can successfully tackle the challenges of today’s corporate realities. Summing up, Spitzer embodies the modern, truly global counsel who, in addition to serving his internal clients, acts as a positive force within society at large. He is very highly regarded as a thought leader in the international legal, business and academic communities.