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Timo Matthias Spitzer

 

Position

Head of Legal Corporate & Investment Banking Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Nordic Countries at Banco Santander, S.A.

Board Member and Adjunct Professor, Institute for Law and Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt

Qualified as Rechtsanwalt in Germany and Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales

Special interests

As Board Member and Adjunct Professor at the ILF, Timo Matthias Spitzer brings his global leadership experience and legal expertise directly into the classroom. His lectures combine academic excellence with practical insights, preparing students to navigate the intersection of law, finance, and responsible leadership in an increasingly complex international environment.

Vita

Mr. Spitzer is a globally renowned Head of Legal with extensive international experience across leading financial institutions and top-tier law firms. He is dual-qualified as a Rechtsanwalt (Germany) and Solicitor (England & Wales) and holds a First Class Honours Master’s degree in International Economic Law. Mr. Spitzer also serves as Chairman of The Legal 500 GC Powerlist Germany Advisory Board as well as the global Advisory Board of GC Connected and advises several organizations shaping the future of the legal profession, including the German Institution for In-house Lawyers (diruj), the European Company Lawyer Association (ECLA), Deutscher AnwaltSpiegel, Business Law Magazine, GoingDigital, and SustainableValue Magazine. He is also a founding member of the Handelsblatt Legal Circle, reflecting his commitment to thought leadership and innovation in business law.

A published author in the Harvard Business Law Review, Mr. Spitzer writes on leadership and integrity in technology-driven and regulated corporate contexts. He is a frequent speaker at major international forums hosted by The Economist, The Lawyer, the International Bar Association, the Academy of European Law (ERA), and International Financial Law Review (IFLR), and has delivered guest lectures at Harvard Law School, Fordham Law School, and King’s College London where he is also a faculty member of the Global General Counsel Academy.

Recognized across multiple editions of The Legal 500 GC Powerlists (Germany and Europe), Mr. Spitzer has received awards from, inter alios, The Legal 500, Lexology and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) as well as Santander. He also serves as a regular judge at international legal awards, such as The Lawyer European Awards and the Law.com International Awards, promoting excellence, innovation, and ethical leadership in global legal practice.

Fluent in German, English, French, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish, Mr. Spitzer embodies the ILF’s international and interdisciplinary spirit. His teaching and mentorship inspire postgraduate students to develop both intellectual excellence and principled leadership for careers at the highest levels of law and finance. 

Publications

  • “Human Leadership 4.0”: the strategic power of reflection, courage and conscience in modern legal leadership, GC Connected, 2025
  • ESG Colourwashing: Combating Modern-Day Corporate Hypocrisy, International In-house Counsel Journal, Cambridge University Press, 2022
  • Why Leadership with Integrity is Crucial to Achieving Sustainable Business Practices for Corporations,  International In-house Counsel Journal, Cambridge University Press, 2021
  • The Legal Department as a Key Driver to Promote Sustainable Value, Sustainable Value Magazine, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Business Media, 2021
  • Growing through Trust and Relationships, Clifford Chance Alumni Press, 2020
  • As a Team through the COVID-19 Crisis to the “New Normal” of Work, Business Law Magazine, Frankfurt Business Media, 2020
  • GC Insider – Leadership with Integrity, The Legal 500, 2020
  • The Importance of Human Leadership with Integrity in a Highly Regulated and Tech-Reliant Corporate Environment, Harvard Business Law Review, 2020
  • Corporate Counsel as Moral Compass (“Unternehmensjuristen als moralischer Kompass“), Unternehmensjurist, 2020
  • Everything Leading Corporate Lawyers need to have in Mind, Business Law Magazine, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Business Media, 2019
  • The Value of Enterprise GC, The Legal 500, 2019
  • Advice to Future GCs, The Legal 500, 2019
  • The Increasing General Counsel Role in Times of Change, Digitorney Group, 2019
  • Global Players Between Hammer And Anvil, The US-EU Sanctions Dilemma, Digitorney, 2018
  • In-house lawyers, don’t be Chief Blocking Officers, The Lawyer, 2018
  • The 'capital-marketisation' of export finance, Financier Worldwide, 2013
  • Governance International Australia (together with Stephen Hodgson and Arthur Davis), 2011
  • Governance International Poland (together with, inter alios, Katarzyna Koston Cikulin), 2011

Course(s)

International Economic Law (Trade and Export Finance)