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.

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.

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.

Global Financial Markets

Since the arrival of Clifford Chance in Spain, the area of financial markets has always enjoyed a position of leadership, thanks to the combination of the technical knowledge of our lawyers and our lengthy experience in the world's main financial centres. The Global Financial Markets department covers a wide variety of products, all of which are characterised by being of great complexity and having a major impact. Our clients are financial institutions (acting as lenders, placement agents, underwriters or arrangers), major companies (issuers on the capital markets and, in general, recipients of financing) and financial investors.

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.

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.

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.

Innovation

Innovation is action. Proven by what we do, not what we say. Putting evolution into evidence, in every facet of our work, every day.

Whether it's the way we work today and how we pave the way for future methods, or the new answers we bring to our clients.

Our capabilities, digital solutions, insights and research speak for themselves. And so do the results.

We use a range of specialised capabilities in the delivery of our legal services including expert project management and continuous improvement, specialist resourcing through our delivery centres, cutting edge legal technology and data science, and a dedicated research and development team who design and build digital solutions with and for our clients.

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.

THROUGH THE EYES OF AN ABOGADO

Clifford Chance advises Ardian on its acquisition of Adamo.

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The Deal

We have advised Ardian on its acquisition of one of the fastest growing fibre optic operators and platforms in the Spanish market, Adamo.

The transaction represents Ardian Infrastructure's first investment in the telecommunications sector in Spain, focusing on rural areas and supported by an open access wholesale business model.

Hear from Javier Lopez, Abogado in Madrid.

"My work as a junior lawyer during the course of the transaction has been focused on the review and analysis of documentation with financial implications within the framework thereof, participating in the drafting of the legal report, raising questions for the management team and identifying issues such as change of control, cross default and negative pledge clauses. I have been supervised by senior lawyers who have been available at all times to clear up my doubts, explain technical and commercial issues to me with an impact on the deal and provide me with the advice I need to keep improving.

I feel that the most positive aspect about advising on this transaction has been experiencing from the inside how an all-encompassing trasaction like this works, in which lawyers from different areas and offices of the firm are involved."