IE Law School, academic partner of the Madrid Bar Association during its 425th anniversary celebrations

The Madrid Bar Association [ICAM for its initials in Spanish] recently celebrated its 425th anniversary with a full program of events that took place from June 13-17. This year, IE University had the honor of hosting two commemorative academic days as well as the anniversary’s closing ceremony at the IE Tower.

The celebration program began with a solemn ceremony conducted by His Majesty Felipe VI, with more than 300 legal professionals swearing an oath to the Spanish Crown, the country’s constitution and the legal profession. Throughout the week, different institutional events were held, culminating in the celebration of two academic days on June 16 and 17 at IE University’s IE Tower.

These academic days were inaugurated by Santiago Iñiguez, president of IE University, and José María Alonso, dean of the ICAM, who also offered insight into the reasons for IE University’s participation in the event. “We needed the right partner, one that is fully focused on the future. Naturally, it had to be IE University,” he noted, explaining why the institution was selected as the academic partner of the celebrations. During the same ceremony, Santiago Iñiguez elaborated on IE University’s educational values.

“Education is the most powerful driver of socially equality. For this reason, IE University is committed to providing the best possible programs, focusing on the international, entrepreneurship and sustainability components.”

Santiago Iñiguez, president of IE University

Over a total of 18 talks, approximately 100 experts analyzed the current situation in the legal sector and the challenges it faces, with particular emphasis on international law and the future of the profession. A variety of trending and relevant subjects in the world of law were addressed, from marketplaces to Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSP) and even the metaverse, along with recent reforms to legislation, the state of law in the European Union and the impact of the war in Ukraine, among many others.

One subject that came up repeatedly during the different presentations was that of the skills needed by tomorrow’s legal professionals—a key topic that was also discussed as a part of a specific roundtable entitled “Tomorrow’s International Lawyer: Skills, Abilities and Capacities.” During this discussion, Lola Conde, corporate legal director of Banco Santander, stressed the importance of “being able to take on any specialty,” as well as “never being complacent and always remaining curious by learning and relearning every day.”

The two academic days came to an end with the awarding of international cooperation prizes, a roundtable and the closing ceremony, which were held in IE Tower’s auditorium.

The closing roundtable, which was moderated by José María Alonso and Soledad Atienza, included the participation of four former ministers of justice: Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, Rafael Catalá and Juan Carlos Campo. It discussed judicial organization and the replacement of the members of the General Council of the Judiciary and the Constitutional Court of Spain—an important issue in the country today.

The closing ceremony for the academic days, which also put the finishing touch on the anniversary celebrations, included the participation of Soledad Atienza, dean of IE Law School; José María Alonso, dean of the ICAM; José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of Madrid and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid.

This ceremony highlighted the prestige of Madrid’s legal profession: “Madrid is recognized for the quality of its legal education. Madrid’s legal professionals are highly regarded in terms of their quality and prestige in Spain, Europe and all of Latin America,” Soledad Atienza noted in particular.

Last of all, in his final speech, José María Alonso revisited the ICAM’s commemorative anniversary events, which brought together more than 5000 lawyers and more than 150 specialists from 17 countries, summarizing the event’s goals in seven action words: receiving, remembering, defending, recognizing, sharing, remembering and motivating.

At IE Law School, we are proud to have had the opportunity to welcome leading figures from the world of legal academia as a part of a celebration as highly regarded as the ICAM’s anniversary—an event that marks a milestone for an institution that has trained many of the directors of leading legal firms and which further strengthens our commitment to top-quality legal education oriented at the future. As president of IE University Santiago Iñiguez explained while inaugurating the two academic days, “We are very proud to have contributed to training the architects of social structures, namely lawyers designing sustainable, flexible, dynamic and pioneering institutions that solve social problems and provide a channel for generating growth in our societies.”