Press Release

The Financial Times honoured Garrigues last night in London for its innovation, during the FT Innovative Lawyers 2008 Awards ceremony organized by the prestigious financial newspaper to recognize the most innovative initiatives undertaken by European law firms. Garrigues won the highest prize in the category of “Technology and Know-how” for the creation of Logalty, a service that enables the generation and custody of electronic notices and contract formalisation services, guaranteeing the safety of legal transactions between parties carried out over the Internet. The Spanish law firm has worked with T-Systems, the technology arm of German telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, which provides the leading-edge technology that builds trust among customers on the electronic proof. The Financial Times has also published its European ranking of the most innovative firms. ‘FT Law 50’ ranks Garrigues number nine, positioning the Spanish firm in the first place among European continental firms.

The award granted to Logalty recognizes the pioneering nature of this initiative, the first in Europe that offers specific solutions to the current legal uncertainty that threatens transactions over the Internet. The Financial Times has evaluated with a punctuation of nine out of 10 the originality of Logalty’s project and with a punctuation of eight the project’s rationality. The British newspaper underscores the “importance of the characteristics of this service in fostering trade over the Internet”. Thanks to Logalty more trust is built in the use of digital services, as it becomes a neutral and independent medium between parties of any given transaction. The goal is to grant proof capacity to these notices in a judicial case. “A Third Trusted Party’s intervention is essential to secure the permanence and immutability of electronic notices, so that they receive a favourable judicial assessment”, explained Jose María Anguiano, partner at Garrigues and expert in Information Technologies.

The Financial Times has recognized not only the innovation of the project but also the investigative endeavour behind it. Both teams at Garrigues and at T-Systems are seamlessly defining new proposals that can provide competitive advantage to their clients, as well as guarantee the same pace between the development of business models and technology constant advancement. The referees panel has also taken into account Logalty’s international nature. Both Garrigues and Deutsche Telekom are strongly positioned so that they can provide a global service around the world.

The most innovative firm in Continental Europe

In addition to Logalty, the Financial Times has evaluated other projects developed by Garrigues, such as, its client advisory, human resources and corporate social responsibility initiatives, which all have led the firm to position itself as the most innovative across Continental Europe. More precisely, the ranking highlights the Firm’s innovation in the Aguacanal project in the Navarra region, the first irrigation network in Spain to be developed under a PPP-like scheme. In the category of best client practice, the paper recognizes the Affinitas CO2 project, an international network that integrates the services of legal and other professionals, specialising in climate change services. With regards to human resources, the publication has emphasized the Business law course for young professionals that begin their careers at the firm, organized by Garrigues in partnership with Harvard University. Last but not least, in the corporate social responsibility area, the paper recognizes Garrigues’ Corporate Social Responsibility, which celebrates its second edition, and the accounting course to Latin American judges taught by several legal professionals, which is run by the Garrigues Foundation in partnership with the World Bank.