Our high-profile domestic and international work has built our market-leading reputation in Spain

Our work is based on a thorough understanding of our clients' immediate business objectives and long-term strategy, their industry sector, their products or services and the commercial reality of the markets in which they operate.

Our experience has taught us how to work efficiently on complex projects and ensure that we use our resources – and our clients' time – as effectively as possible. And clients say that our approach and our talented lawyers deliver the right results.

We work closely with our top-tier clients, addressing the challenges and conflicts they face, being innovative in the solutions proposed, advising on front-page deals, and contributing when necessary with a cross-border service.

We make the most of the global firm's infrastructure and resources without in any way relinquishing the distinctive Spanish flavour of our offices locally.

We encourage our lawyers to develop themselves in their own practices as quickly and effectively as possible, with autonomous client contact and transaction management as twin goals.

The following areas represent the principle focus of our work in Madrid and Barcelona.

Public Law

Our Public Law group advises on issues relating to Spanish public law. We have acquired considerable experience and prestige in various regulated sectors, as well as in infrastructures and the area of public procurement. Our clients include Spanish public bodies, national, regional and local governments, public administrative authorities and prestigious domestic and foreign corporates. Particular focus areas include contentious-administrative proceedings, privatisation of public services, environmental law and public sector financing.

Antitrust

In this group, we advise national and international enterprises on Spanish and European antitrust and competition law issues. Our team includes lawyers who are experts in different industry sectors with considerable knowledge of the relevant markets and competition law regulations affecting our clients. We also maintain a very close relationship with the relevant EC authorities and our office in Brussels. Our work includes advice on concentrations, restrictive practices, inspections, claims, corporate strategy and regulatory compliance.

Banking & Finance

Our leadership in Banking & Finance is due to our technical expertise and experience in the world's principal financial centres. We consistently act on complex, high-value deals in the Spanish financial markets, fielding teams qualified to advice on both Spanish and English law. Our clients include financial institutions intervening as lenders, agents, guarantors and intermediaries, as well as borrowing entities. We advise on syndicated loans, project finance, acquisition finance, asset finance, insolvency and restructuring.

Capital Markets

This area is focused on all types of transactions relating to capital markets, both debt and equity, national and international. The practice covers a wide variety of different products, including public offerings, flotations, issues of all types of fixed income securities, structured financing arrangements, derivatives and securitisations. The team comprises experts in both Spanish and English law and among the area's clients are issuers, placement agencies, insurers and coordinators.

Corporate and M&A

We advise on some of the most prestigious and complex deals taking place in the Spanish market and abroad. Our structure allows us to combine the delivery of global transaction management with expert local advice. We work in all sectors of industry, including banks, insurance, energy, infrastructures, technology, media and telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, transport and logistics. Key focus areas include mergers and acquisitions, public issues, joint ventures, commercial contracts and data protection.

Employment

Our Employment group works for domestic and international clients on different aspects of the relationship with employees within the Spanish market. We advise on all matters relating to the employment relationship, including senior managers' contracts, transfers of undertakings, restructures, collective agreement negotiations, outsourcing and compensation and benefits. We also represent the interests of our clients in employment proceedings brought before the Spanish employment tribunals and the labour and Social Security authorities.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Clifford Chance has one of Spain's leading litigation practices. We provide advice to protect our clients' position in the event of possible future disputes of a civil, commercial or criminal law nature, intervening in the areas of risk evaluation and dispute resolution strategies. We represent our clients in both court (civil and criminal jurisdictions) and arbitration proceedings. Our practice also involves specialisms in white-collar crime, insolvency proceedings and intellectual and industrial property disputes.

Real Estate

We advise on a wide range of transactions within the Spanish real estate sector, including the purchase and sale of shopping centres, offices, hotels and industrial estates; construction, turn-key and engineering contracts; leases and urban planning. Our clients include institutional investors, funds, developers, high volume distribution chains, construction companies and finance entities. Our real estate deals have a strong international component, allowing us to combine our global resources with our considerable experience within the Spanish market.

Tax

We advise both clients and other areas of our practice in Spain on the most tax-efficient way to structure commercial deals, strictly complying with the applicable fiscal legislation. Our international network of offices allows us to provide a global tax advisory service, working together on the planning and development of large cross-border projects. Particular focus areas of our work include taxation of corporates and restructures, defending tax inspections and contentious fiscal proceedings, tax advice to non-residents and expatriates.

An insight into our work

Here Thierry Schoen, an M&A partner in Paris, talks about his role in the financial rescue of Peugeot by Dongfeng Motor Group. The deal was multi-faceted and required expertise from Clifford Chance offices around the world, involving lawyers from China, the US and Australia.

Innovation & Best Delivery

Our clients' evolving needs means that we continuously challenge ourselves to deliver a service that is ever more robust, consistent, efficient and innovative both now and into the future.

By using the firm's extensive knowledge capability and smart technology our aim is to transform legal services globally. Our best delivery and innovation teams are growing and evolving to meet this challenge.