Secretary general and global head of legal | Grupo Secuoya
Corporate and legal director | Lantania
Maria Elena Ruiz Paños is a distinguished legal expert with over two decades of experience in international legal affairs, and business negotiations, with a strong focus on the renewable and...
Global general counsel | ACCIONA and Nordex Green hydrogen
Legal advisory corporate director | Grupo Azvi
General counsel, Spain and Portugal | Samsung Electronics
General legal and compliance counsel para España y Latinoamérica | Inetum
General counsel, compliance officer and company secretary | Holcim
Head of legal, risk and insurance and secretary of the board | Transfesa Logistics
Julia is a highly experienced Legal & Risk Director with over 25 years of expertise in corporate and regulatory affairs, having worked across multinational companies in sectors including technology, real...
General counsel, legal and compliance, Iberia and Africa | Otis Elevator
General secretary of the board of directors | Tubacex
Legal director | LaLiga (Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional)
General counsel, compliance director and deputy company secretary | Prosegur
General counsel and secretary of the board | Elecnor
General counsel | Diamond Foundry
Rebeca Brandys has more than two decades of global, broad-ranging transactional and corporate governance experience, including general counsel and legal director roles in public and private technology companies and in...
General counsel for Iberia, Italy and LATAM | Securitas Direct
Global general counsel and vice-secretary of the board of director | Cellnex
After years in the making, we are thrilled to introduce the inaugural edition of the Legal 500’s GC Powerlist: Spain. Following the success of our Iberia and Spain: Latin America Specialists editions, this publication marks a natural and long-anticipated milestone for our team.
Over the past few months, we have had the privilege of engaging with Spain’s most exceptional in-house lawyers, exploring their remarkable achievements, gaining insights into their vast expertise, and celebrating their invaluable contributions to the business and legal landscape. This edition stands as a tribute to their leadership, strategic vision, and unwavering commitment to excellence.
Within these pages, you will find in-depth profiles and exclusive interviews with some of the most influential and highly regarded general counsel across diverse industries. These professionals have consistently demonstrated their ability to navigate complex legal challenges, mitigate risks, and drive business success through their strategic guidance. Their stories serve as an inspiration to the wider legal community, underscoring the pivotal role that in-house lawyers play in shaping their organisations’ growth and resilience.
This first-ever GC Powerlist: Spain also features exclusive discussions on key legal trends and challenges, offering a comprehensive perspective on the evolving role of in-house counsel. We invite you to explore this edition and discover the extraordinary individuals shaping the future of legal leadership in Spain.
On behalf of the Legal 500, I extend my sincere gratitude to all the in-house lawyers featured in this publication for sharing their insights and experiences. It is an honour to present this distinguished list of Spain’s most outstanding and influential legal professionals.
Francisco Faria e Castro | Research Editor | GC Powerlist Series
The Legal 500 was proud to host the third edition of the GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 at the Capitol Hotel Tokyu, honouring the top General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, Legal Directors, and senior in-house legal professionals operating at the highest level of Japan’s corporate legal landscape. Held in Tokyo, this year’s reception welcomed around 100 of the most respected and senior corporate counsel from across Japan. It was an unrivalled success, and cements Legal 500’s status as the leading force in legal media supporting the achievements of in-house counsel in Japan. The GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 marks the continuation of our commitment to recognising excellence in-house, and this year’s edition represents the most competitive and selective list to date.
Joe Boswell, lead editor of the GC powerlist publication at The Legal 500, opened the evening with an introduction that reflected on the growing prestige of the Japan list. He emphasised how the Powerlist has grown stronger each year, both in scope and quality, making the task of selection more difficult. This year’s honourees emerged from a deeply competitive field, making their recognition even more meaningful.
Boswell extended heartfelt congratulations to all honourees and acknowledged the critical support of key partners and sponsors who made the evening possible. Special thanks were given to Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Morrison Foerster, iManage, JustLegal, and SS&C Intralinks for their generous sponsorship and ongoing collaboration.
In a moment of reflection, Joe paid tribute to Tim Mackey, chief legal officer at SoftBank, who sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. Tim had contributed to the Powerlist in each of its three editions and was known not only for his exceptional legal acumen but also for his warmth and generosity.
The evening featured insightful remarks from distinguished speakers representing our partners and the broader legal community: Mischa Mulligan, Japan Director at SS&C Intralinks; Hiroki Kodate, Partner and Management Committee Member at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune; Jeremy White, Global Co-Chair of M&A for Morrison Foerster; and, representing those awarded in the Powerlist, Naoki Hamada, General Counsel for Japan at HSBC.
Each speaker provided reflections on legal innovation, leadership, and the evolving role of in-house counsel in Japan’s corporate landscape. Their remarks added valuable context to the achievements celebrated throughout the evening.
The formal awards segment celebrated this year’s GC Powerlist honourees. With assistance from long-time collaborator Isaac Uchiyama who read out awardees’ names, recipients were invited to collect their certificates, pose for photographs, and be formally recognised by their peers.
Certificates were presented on stage by Hiroki Kodate or Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and Jeremy White of Morrison Foerster, whose participation further underlined the deep support of the Japanese and international legal communities.
The GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 reception reaffirmed Legal 500’s commitment to spotlighting the very best of in-house legal talent. With record levels of interest and unmatched quality among candidates, the Japan edition continues to solidify its place as one of the most respected publications in the global GC Powerlist series.
We extend our sincere congratulations to all honourees and thank our partners, sponsors, and speakers for making the evening a success.
We look forward to returning to Tokyo again next year. As a parting gift, you can view Naoki Hamada’s excellent keynote address below, where he touches on a lot of issues and themes that many other GC, whatever country they operate in, will recognise:
‘Good evening, everyone. I am Naoki Hamada of HSBC. I am very pleased to be here speaking to you today. It is a great pleasure and honor, and at the same time, I feel a bit overwhelmed being surrounded by the busiest and most expensive lawyers in the industry—even if I know that nobody will be charging us for their time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Legal 500 for organizing such a great event, and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Morrison Foerster, iManage, SS&C Intralinks, and Just Legal for sponsoring and supporting it. And, huge congratulations on the recognition each of you is receiving, which is truly a great accomplishment and the result of your hard work and the accumulated trust the entire industry has placed in you.
It must be emphasized that this award is given only to general counsels. Being a general counsel means a lot more than just being a subject matter expert. You are a most reliable strategic partner for the business, and I am sure that you have distinguished yourself from the crowd by your ability to identify underlying risks, devise legal solutions, ensure the right processes and governance for corporate decisions, influence others, and educate the next generation of lawyers. This is what you are being recognized for.
Looking back on my career, I have been hugely helped by lawyers in other companies through various industry communities. When I joined the in-house world 12 years ago from a Japanese law firm, large international banks were all struggling with a huge wave of regulatory reform. Back then, I was relatively new to that particular area of finance, and my hiring was somewhat potential-based. Nonetheless, I was assigned to lead the regulatory reform efforts locally. My predecessor had left the bank before I joined, there was no sufficient handover, and I was completely lost as to what to do. What helped me most were the industry peer group discussions, where in-house counsels from major banks would get together to discuss common issues. I learned so much from what was discussed there and absorbed as much as I could. Without that network, I am sure that I wouldn’t have survived that time.
However, our situation today is far more difficult. The changes in the landscape we face today are unprecedented. Technological developments and the corresponding shifts in geopolitical and industrial landscapes are completely unpredictable, and the speed at which they happen is far faster than before. We might face a time that requires us to pivot, forcing us to redefine how we add value and rebuild the way we work. That is somewhat intimidating. But, I am confident that a way forward will be found through the collective wisdom and effort of the people in this room. I would like to be a part of that, and this network of people is enormously valuable and truly priceless.
Finally, let’s have a drink and celebrate our achievements for now – before your CEO calls asking you to join a call! Thank you so much.’