Pardo Geijo, the Bastion of Criminal Law

Pardo Geijo, el bastón del derecho penal

Raúl Pardo Geijo, a criminal lawyer from Murcia, was recognized by the publishing house Spain Prestige Award in its awards ceremony in Birmingham for the best lawyers in Spain for 2024/2025.

He is not one of those attorneys who enjoys being in the media spotlight, commenting on legal issues of public interest. He rarely appears on television talk shows, except on very limited occasions (e.g., defending his client when circumstances require it). This does not prevent this prestigious lawyer, in each of his speeches, from harshly criticizing the Spanish legal system, the enormous gaps that exist, and the tendency to legislate based on newspaper headlines. When he speaks, the spectacle is almost always guaranteed.

Whether he likes it or not, the most prestigious institutions in the legal world agree in highlighting him as the best lawyer in the country—in the field of criminal law—which inevitably brings him into the spotlight against his will.

Thus, he not only received the “Best Lawyers 2024” award, being recognized among those selected as the top criminal lawyer nationwide, but was once again been honored exclusively by the prestigious publication “Client Choice” for the same reason. This award was collected in London, where he met with other lawyers who have likewise been recognized as the most outstanding—the best—in their respective fields (civil, administrative, labor, or commercial law).

This legal organization recognizes law firms worldwide that stand out for their excellent courtroom performance and the quality of their service, as well as individual lawyers. The institution’s official statement notes that the success of the cases Pardo Geijo has handled, the significance of his procedural actions, the analysis of compiled rulings, and the procedural quality of his appeals have undeniably led to this recognition.

Previously, “Leaders in Law” expressed a similar view, and earlier “European Legal Awards,” whose prize he collected last month at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, gathering the most experienced lawyers in each field from across Europe, also awarded him in the specific category of Criminal Law.

Now it is the “Spain Prestige Awards,” but this year “Law Awards,” “Innovation and Excellence Awards,” “GBM,” “Global Excellence,” and “Corporate INTL” have not overlooked him either.

Without delving into the details of his cases (most of which remain hidden from the press, though not from the courts, given his strict discretion regarding information shared with the media), in a speech in Ireland, he stated—when asked by one of the judges on the panel—that “the factual approach to a case is as important as the legal one, but without the former, the latter becomes sterile,” concluding that “everything depends on the strategy designed for each case.” He also emphasized how laborious it is to redesign a defense strategy when, as often happens, “a case arrives with a partially flawed defensive approach.” He further pointed out that “it is essential to fully understand how the Supreme Court interprets the law, because the Criminal Code lacks sufficient clarity, and it is jurisprudence that truly determines when a crime is committed; in other words, one could set aside the Code and study court rulings, because that is the real law, unfortunately.”

Notably, Raúl Pardo has entered the circle of the 20 most important figures in law in Spain and the 500 most influential nationwide.