IE University unveils IE Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession

The IE Law School’s LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession is a pioneering center with a unique approach to research and education on the future of the legal profession and the role of the legal sector and its practitioners. The new center is chaired by Luis de Carlos—former chairman at Uría Menéndez—and is made up of leading business law firms, namely CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo; Cuatrecasas; Gómez Acebo y Pombo; Garrigues; Pérez-Llorca; Roca Junyent; Sagardoy Abogados and Uría Menéndez. The center will promote research in collaboration with the main centers on the legal profession of some of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Harvard, Georgetown, Bucerius and others.

The center’s advisory board members include the managing partners of its founding firms—Cesar Albiñana, Rafael Fontana, Íñigo Erlaiz, Fernando Vives, Pedro Pérez-Llorca, Joan Roca, Íñigo Sagardoy, Salvador Sánchez-Terán—as well as María José Esteban as the center’s head profesor, Soledad Atienza, dean of IE Law School, and Luis de Carlos.

The unveiling was attended by Soledad Atienza who presented the center’s program (research, debate and education) and hosted an open conversation between Luis de Carlos, Chair of the LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession; and Pablo Isla, Chair of IE University’s International Advisory Board. The two discussed the current role of the legal profession, the challenges it faces and its impact on society and the economy.

The new center’s mission is to analyze trends in the field of law, foster opinions, promote research and create spaces for dialogue that contribute to the modernization of the legal profession. The goals of the LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession is to:

• be a benchmark center for research, development and innovation in the area of the legal profession, linking Spain to the rest of the world, with connections to other centers in Europe, the United States and Latin America;
• create impact in society, making a lasting contribution through its activities;
• be a center for transformation that influences and collaborates with other organizations in decision-making, promoting the Spanish brand through its activities;
• be a point of convergence between different fields of knowledge;
• be an exceptional place of inspiration and encounter between the academic, professional and business worlds and legal institutions.

“At IE Law School, we are proud to launch the LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession, dedicated to research, debate and education on the future of the legal profession—and to continue to bring the legal sector and academia closer together. Through this collaboration with leading business law firms and under the guidance of Luis de Carlos, the best possible person to steer this think tank on the legal profession, we reaffirm our commitment to deepening our understanding of the key issues facing the legal sector,” said Soledad Atienza, Dean of IE Law School.

“The LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession is being established with the aim of becoming a reference for reflection on the challenges and opportunities facing the legal profession. I am proud to lead this IE Law School center, to work with leading law firms and to promote the debate with other international centers on the future of legal services.”
Luis de Carlos, Chair of IE Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession

The center’s research activity will consist of creating and spreading knowledge in order to facilitate a better understanding of the changes, challenges and trends affecting the legal profession. Specifically, the research will focus on three pillars: drivers of change; business models and management; and sustainability.

Among other upcoming activities, the center will be hosting David Wilkins, Faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, who will examine the legal profession in the era of sustainability and social justice.