Garrigues

Garrigues is a full-service, independent law firm. Based in Spain (18 offices) and in 12 other countries, five of them in Latin America, it excels in virtually every area of practice. Its integrated approach allows the firm to provide clients with a full perspective, combining transactional, regulatory and tax implications in every assignment.

In 2013 Garrigues launched an ambitious strategy in Latin America to establish its own network of local law offices. The firm takes the view that having its own presence on the ground is the only way to evolve in the region and preserve its culture, quality and other institutional elements. Since then, the firm has opened offices in Bogotá, Lima and Mexico City. These are offices with 15 to 50 local lawyers. Former head of corporate Javier Ybáñez co-ordinates the regional efforts from the Bogotá and Santiago offices. In Brazil, Garrigues operates directly in São Paulo as a tax consultant and as a foreign law consultant and has a cooperation agreement with independent law firm NBFA

Main areas of practice
Corporate and M&A: the firm has played a leading role in the evolution of Spanish corporate and commercial law over recent decades and has been involved in the most important, most complex and largest transactions in the Iberian market. The firm advises on acquisition processes of all types of companies, planning and implementation of mergers and spin-offs, private equity, joint venture agreements and strategic alliances, tender offers and public to private processes.

Capital markets, banking and finance: Garrigues advises on capital markets, project finance, acquisition finance processes, asset finance and distressed debt trading, as well as on the regulatory side, for financial institutions (banks and investment services companies).

Regulated sectors: Garrigues has strong expertise in regulated sectors and has participated in many deals in the energy, IT and telecommunication and media sectors.

Antitrust and EU: the team advises on antitrust (cartel agreements, practices that restrict competition), and merger control proceedings, state aid procedures and antitrust law compliance programs.

Tax: Garrigues is the reference firm for all tax matters, both ongoing and transactional, for Ibex35 index companies, comprising of the largest quoted companies in Spain.

Litigation and arbitration: Garrigues has the oldest and largest litigation and arbitration department in Spain and the firm is highly regarded on the Spanish legal market for its in-depth industry knowledge, the quality and efficiency of its services and for its ethical commitment. The firm tries to prevent disputes and, if inevitable, seeks to ensure that its clients face them in the best possible conditions. The team covers three areas of practice: (i) civil and commercial litigation and domestic arbitration (institutional and ad hoc); (ii) international arbitration (institutional and ad hoc); and (iii) white-collar crime.

Restructuring and insolvency: Garrigues has a long-standing tradition of designing and implementing optimal strategies to ensure that business restructuring processes, either operational and/or financial, achieve their goals; the practice ranges from out-of-court refinancing agreements to the most complex court insolvency proceedings.

Employment: the firm advises on issues including collective negotiations, restructurings arising from financial entities in distress, reduction of work force and cease of activities due to poor economic and market conditions, advising on the introduction of new businesses including the transfer of employees and major litigation in extremely complex environments with a huge economic impact.