ECIJA has once again established itself as one of Europe’s leading law firms with seven nominations for The Lawyer European Awards 2026
ECIJA, a leading international firm specialising in the digital economy, has been shortlisted in seven categories at The Lawyer European Awards 2026, one of the leading accolades in the European legal industry.
The nominations come just one year after ECIJA achieved one of the greatest milestones in its international history by being simultaneously recognised as European Law Firm of the Year and Law Firm of the Year: Iberia in the 2025 edition.
In 2026, the firm is once again competing for the title of Law Firm of the Year in Iberia and has expanded its presence amongst the finalists with six further nominations that recognise some of the key areas of transformation within the ECIJA project: from its evolution towards a Full AI Firm model and the creation of The Garage, to its international strategy, its specialisation in the digital economy, and its ESG and pro bono projects.
This recognition coincides with a new phase of growth for ECIJA. Having exceeded €122 million in turnover in 2025, with growth of close to 20 per cent, the firm continues to advance a model that combines international scale, legal specialisation and in-house technological capabilities.
Seven nominations reflecting ECIJA’s transformation
Law Firm of the Year: Iberia. ECIJA aims to retain the title it won in 2025, in a year marked by business growth, the strengthening of strategic practice areas and the expansion of its international capabilities.
European Specialist Team of the Year. This nomination recognises ECIJA’s position as a firm specialising in digital economy law and its track record in areas such as technology, artificial intelligence, privacy, intellectual property and media.
Best Transformation Initiative – Becoming an AI-Native Firm. In November 2024, ECIJA formalised its ‘Full AI Firm’ strategy, designed to integrate artificial intelligence across the firm’s operational model and not merely as a technological tool. Since then, the project has progressed from the adoption of AI solutions to the transformation of processes, training, governance and the provision of legal services, underpinned by ISO/IEC 42001 certification for artificial intelligence management systems.
Cross-Border Strategy of the Year. The Lawyer also recognises the international roll-out of the Full AI Firm model across the 18 jurisdictions in which ECIJA operates, with the aim of offering consistent legal and technological capabilities to clients operating in different markets.
Best Client Service – The Garage, by ECIJA. One of the firm’s most recent initiatives and a central element of its next phase of transformation. The Garage is ECIJA’s innovation and co-design space in Madrid, created to work directly with clients on identifying, designing and prototyping new use cases for artificial intelligence applied to legal and business work. Large companies and institutions can experiment with new workflows in a secure environment before rolling them out into production.
Most Impactful ESG Initiative – Be Brave, Be Great, Be You. A new system of values and corporate culture designed on the basis of the largest internal consultation process ever carried out by ECIJA and rolled out amongst staff at its 36 offices in 18 countries, with the aim of translating the organisation’s values into concrete behaviours and initiatives that make a difference.
Best Pro Bono Initiative –The Offline AI for Justice. A project developed in partnership with IE University and Segovia Prison, which uses offline artificial intelligence as a tool for legal literacy and reintegration, bringing legal knowledge to prisoners in an environment where access to digital tools is necessarily limited.
“Last year, The Lawyer recognised us as the best firm in Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. To return a year later with seven nominations shows that this was not the end of the road. We are building a different kind of firm, where technology and artificial intelligence are integral to the way we work, interact with our clients and make an impact,” says Alejandro Touriño, Managing Partner of ECIJA.
This year’s nominations thus reflect the evolution of a strategy through which ECIJA seeks to go beyond simply incorporating technology into legal practice to redesign the firm’s very model around artificial intelligence, combining legal, technological and business capabilities.
The Lawyer European Awards recognise the most outstanding firms and teams in the European legal market each year. The 2026 edition brings together professionals from international and independent firms and features a judging panel comprising managing partners, partners, General Counsels and heads of legal departments from major organisations.
The winners will be announced on 26 November 2026 in London.