Spanish heavyweight Garrigues upped global revenue 6.1% in 2024 to a new high of €481.9m, a figure the firm said cemented its position as the leading law firm in the EU by revenue.
The result marks the 11th consecutive year of growth for the Madrid-based firm and should see it stay comfortably ahead of Spain’s second-ranked firm Cuatrecasas, which is yet to post its 2024 results but pulled in €388.7m in 2023.
The increase marks a step up on 2023, when Garrigues upped revenue by 2.5% to €454.3m after 7% rises in the previous two years and a lacklustre 1.4% increase in 2020, when turnover was dragged down by a “sharp” decline in Latin American currencies due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Revenue totalled €419.2m in Spain this time round, an increase of 5.7%. International revenue, which remained roughly stable in 2023, grew 8.9% to €62.7m, accounting for 13% of total revenue in 2024. Garrigues noted this figure would have risen to 18% had its landmark merger with Mexican firm Sánchez Devanny, which was announced last July and formalised in recent weeks, been completed during the last year.
Fernando Vives, executive chairman of Garrigues, said 2024 had been “a good year” for the firm.
“We have maintained solid and profitable growth, strengthened our teams and invested in areas we consider strategic for the future, such as the digital environment,” he said. “The incorporation of Mexican firm Sánchez Devanny consolidates our international expansion and makes us a benchmark firm in the countries where we are present and, in particular, in Latin America.”
Corporate remained Garrigues’ largest practice area in 2024, accounting for 31.2% of its business. Tax contributed 30%, followed by litigation and arbitration (12.8%), labour (11.9%) and administrative (8%). The firm swept the board in terms of both value and number of deals in the 2024 M&A rankings in Spain, with 207 deals totaling €30.9bn, according to data from TTR.
Garrigues also pointed to the €17m it invested in tech in 2024, up 14.1% on the previous year. The firm said it has invested close to €70m in innovation and digitalisation over the past five years, including in its homegrown AI platform, Garrigues GA_IA, which is intended to provide staff with access to different internally trained models that are also integrated with commercial models like Harvey.
The firm has also launched a digital business division, an offering it said was unique in the market, to help companies navigate their digital transformation with legaltech products. Last year the business developed new products in collaboration with EADTrust, a trust service provider registered with Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation that the firm bought in 2023.
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