Aitor Unanue joined ULMA Construction in 2008, following a successful 12-year tenure at the market-leading law firm Garrigues. Since assuming his role as director of legal affairs, he has had...

A highly experienced lawyer, Alberto Ferrández Barturen is the head of legal at Celeo Concesiones e Inversiones, a 100% owned subsidiary of Elecnor, the leading developer and operator of electricity...

Heading a strong, cross-functional team of 20 people for Vestas, a Danish manufacturer, seller and servicer of wind turbines, Alejandro García Granda has been active in some of the most...

Former general counsel of ACS, Servicios, Comunicaciones y Energias, Alfonso Aguirre Díaz-Guardamino is described by sources as ‘a very intelligent person’ with ‘outstanding team management skills’. During his 15-year tenure...

A leading expert in the banking sector, Alicia Muñoz Lombardía has served the legal department of Santander Group for 20 years, having joined in 1995 to lead the legal research...

Ana Bayó Busta had spent 10 years working in market leading law firms, including Garrigues, Clifford Chance and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, before deciding to move in-house. ‘At Clifford Chance where...

‘An extraordinary professional’, Ana Buitrago has impressed private practice lawyers and in-house colleagues throughout her 15 year in-house career. With previous senior roles at Iberdrola Renovables and Terra Lycos, the...

Ana Isabel Montero prides herself on establishing a successful, fully integrated in-house legal department for the Iberian branch of JTI. She admits that setting up a legal department in an...

Ana Prado Blanco was appointed general counsel at Mercedes-Benz España in 2012, after having served as legal counsel in the same legal department for eight years. She admits that her...

‘When I started working at Avon the legal department used to be considered as a hurdle to the rest of the company, limiting the business from putting in place new,...

An award-winning corporate counsel, with expertise in public and administrative law, Iberdrola’s director of global legal services for energy management and commercial, Andrés Campaña Avila is an increasingly respected voice...

Grupo San José’s director of international legal affairs, Ángela López Molina has had an exciting career path. Shortly after her studies in law and business administration she started working in...

With significant experience of senior positions in major public companies, Antonio Murillo Gayo is a leading regulatory expert and a respected voice in his industry. He started his in-house career...

As general counsel, Antonio Neto Alves has been pivotal in Portucel’s growth. He started his career in a small law firm in Portugal, where he specialised in M&A after three...

Ariadna Grañena leads the Iberian legal and tax department of Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a multinational consumer goods company. She joined the company in 2007 as tax manager, following a successful...

During her decade-long tenure at Canon España, Begoña Barbera-Martin has created a strong and trusted legal department that is always available and ready to contribute to the company’s growth. ‘In...

An award-winning corporate counsel, Blanca RIvilla Calle is general counsel and deputy general manager of the Spanish investment bank Ahorro Corporación. She joined the company in 2000 as a junior...

Carlos Figueiredo has worked at Unilever Jerónimo Martins since the onset of his career. He joined the company in 1998 as a management trainee and he has held various positions...

Infarco is the parent company of a pharmaceutical group composed of twelve subsidiaries, including Cinfa, Spain’s leading pharmaceutical company in sales by volume through retail pharmacies. Carlos Iribarren has been...

A leading expert in the fields of media and audio-visual law, Carlos López Martín de Blas heads all legal activities of Secuoya Grupo. He started his career as a litigation...

Throughout his 16-year tenure at the helm of MAXAM’s legal department, Carlos Manuel Gastañaduy Tilve has always strived to change the mentality of some business people about the importance of...

As group general counsel, Carlos Martins Ferreira played a pivotal role in Jerónimo Martins’ global corporate structure reorganisation that took place in 2011. During the same year, as a member...

‘An expert in corporate governance and securities law, as well as compliance and EU competition law’, Concha Ortuño Sierra is a lawyer with more than 20 years of experience. For...

During her time at the IBEX 35 listed Spanish multinational company, Consuelo Barbé Capdevila has been involved in some of Telefónica’s most pivotal transactions, including the ground-breaking merger of Telefónica...

A leading expert in finance law, Cristina Fernández Gomez has been at the helm of the legal financial department at Telefónica since 2012. She started her career at the top-tier...

With an impressive career spanning senior in-house positions and private practice, David Giner leads a cross-functional 15-strong team that provides support to a €6bn telecoms business, operating in over 40...

Viscofan Group is an IBEX-35 company and a world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of artificial casings for the meat industry. Elena Ciordia has been at the helm of...

Highly experienced in the energy sector, Elena Fernández Sánchez joined Enel Green Power, the Italian renewable energy corporation with operations in over 16 countries, in 2010. She started her career...

Esteve Buldú Freixa joined Camper, a Spanish-owned shoe brand with a large international network of sales, in 2002 and in 2013 he was promoted to his current role as deputy...

A widely recognised corporate lawyer, Fernando de las Cuevas Terán heads the legal department of Abengoa Solar, the solar energy division of the Spanish multinational corporation Abengoa. He started his...

During his nine year tenure as chief legal officer at Universidad de Navarra, one of the world’s top-60 universities according to a New York Times’ ranking, Fernando Domingo Oslé has...

A respected and high profile lawyer, Fernando Gómez y Gómez Calcerrada has been at the helm of the legal function of ThyssenKrupp Spain since 1999. He now oversees the multinational...

Siemens’ general counsel and secretary of the board, Fernando Ortega López de Santa María takes pride in the development of a legal department that is fully involved and connected with...

‘Filipa is an outstanding performer concerning all the key skills a general counsel should have: ability and wisdom to act as the interface between legal department and board directors; insight...

‘The biggest achievement of my career is to feel, on a day-to-day basis that my colleagues from other areas of the bank, as well as board members ask for my...

Heading all legal activities of Secil, Portugal’s leading cement producer, Filipe Pereira Coelho assumed his role in 2005 and since then has revolutionised the legal department. ‘My first step was...

Flor Grinberg started working at Google in April 2010 as the first commercial legal counsel for Spain and Portugal. Currently, as senior legal counsel, she supports a wide range of...

As Dow Chemical Ibérica’s lead counsel for EMEA, Francisco Castillo has demonstrated diligence, talent and expert knowledge of the business after almost 17 years in the company. An experienced in-house...

Impresa is a Portuguese media conglomerate, owner of leading media outlets, and a PSI-20 listed company. Francisco Pedro Balsemão is the chief operating officer responsible for human resources, legal affairs...

ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, the National Airport Authority, provides management, operation and development of airports in mainland Portugal, Azores, and Madeira autonomous regions. A well-known and highly respected corporate lawyer,...

Inés Núñez de la Parte’s outstanding legal and management skills led her to be included in the top 10 female legal executives in a list published by Mujeres y Cia...

Mango’s general counsel Isabel Calero Llinares prides herself for instilling within the company a culture of prevention and education and corporate responsibility. She has been at the helm of Mango’s...

‘Always seeking to excel and constantly pursuing training initiatives which may increase legal, business and operational knowledge to support the business in a stormy regulatory environment’, Isabel Charraz is praised...

‘Transmitting to the company a certain way of doing business based on your own expertise and the knowledge and your qualifications in law: that’s the biggest impact of an in-house...

CECSE is the second largest group specialised in credit and surety in Spain and the fourth largest in the world. As director of legal since 2012 Jaime de Miguel Muñoz...

OHL is a Spanish-based multinational construction and civil engineering company and since 2008 it has been a constituent of the benchmark IBEX 35 stock market index. Javier de Silva Escrivá...

‘I have worked with Javier as a peer and client for over 15 years, and I can tell that his intelligence, holistic approach to complex legal issues, and versatility to...

Since assuming his role as general counsel of L’Oréal España, Javier López Zafra has undertaken wide-reaching initiatives to align the legal function with the operational expectations of the business. To...

Described as ‘an outstanding, very business-oriented lawyer that can make the life of external counsel much easier, since his level of sophistication is equal to the best partners in the...

Acciona is one of the foremost Spanish conglomerates, leading in the development and management of infrastructure, renewable energy, water and services and listed on the IBEX-35 stock exchange index. Acciona...

Throughout his high-powered in-house career at PepsiCo, vice president and general counsel for Western Europe and government affairs for Southern Europe, John Rigau has contributed significantly to the growth of...

With more than two decades in-house experience at Santander Group, José de Reina Amarillas has been involved in some of the bank’s most significant transactions. Since joining Santander’s in-house team...

With an illustrious career spanning private practice, public sector and in-house, José Luis del Valle Pérez has been the director and general secretary at the IBEX 35 listed Grupo ACS...

With 25 years of in-house experience, the highly-skilled José Manuel García-Alfonso Martitegui is the general counsel and secretary of the board of Air Miles España. He started his career as...

Globalvia is one of the world’s leaders in the management of infrastructure concessions, occupying one of the top positions in a number of rankings produced by infrastructure publications. José Manuel...

General director of legal services at OHL, the IBEX-35 Spanish multinational construction and civil engineering company with approximate annual revenues of €3.5bn, José Maria del Cuvillo Pemán is a widely...

Widely respected counsel, José Miguel Alcolea Cantos joined Iberdrola in 2004, following a successful career in public administration. He served the state legal department from 1996 until 2004, during which...

With more than 31,200 MW installed in more than 50 countries, Gamesa is a global technological leader in the wind industry and an IBEX 35 listed company. Juan Antonio García...

Highly respected across the banking sector, Juan Charro Nicolás heads the corporate legal department of Santander Group. He joined Santander in 2008, following a successful career of seven years at...

During his 17-year tenure as legal director at R Cable, Juan Manuel Sánchez Padrós has been a key decision maker in the Spanish telecommunications company. He joined R Cable in...

MAPFRE Asistencia is a global insurance, reinsurance and services company, and a subsidiary of the IBEX-35 listed insurance company MAPFRE. As the legal director, Juan Manuel Vales Cortés has had...

Heading an award winning legal team, Carrefour’s general counsel Juan Riego Vila has had an active role in some of the most significant deals of the group. He assumed his...

Juan Saavedra Ortiz spent 10 years working in two Magic Circle firms, Linklaters and Allen & Overy, before deciding to move in-house. During that time he advised on a wide...

The highly praised Julián Martínez-Simancas Sánchez, Iberdrola’s general counsel and secretary to the board, has impressed peers and clients alike with his involvement in the transformation process of the company...

Heading all legal activities of power and nuclear divisions, proprietary and HTD at Tecnicas Reunidas, one of the 15 largest engineering companies in the world, Leandro Meneses has led a...

CaixaBank’s chief legal officer Lluis Vendrell Pi believes that assuming his current role has been the biggest challenge throughout his career, as he had to become a banking expert in...

As the general counsel of Cobre Las Cruces, the Spanish mining complex owned by First Quantum Minerals, Lorena García de Izarra’s defining task has been the transformation of the legal...

Grupo Planeta is Spain’s leading family-owned publishing and media group, also operating in Portugal, France and Latin America. With an impressive career, spanning private practice and in-house roles in various...

Indra is Spain’s leading consulting and technology multinational and one of the most prominent in Europe and Latin America. Leading the legal affairs of Indra’s Portuguese branch, Luís Graça Rodrigues...

Insurance specialist, Groupama Seguros’ chief legal and compliance officer prides himself on building the company’s in-house department from scratch. A veteran lawyer in Groupama, Luís Poças joined the company in...

With 17 years’ in-house experience, Mar Fernández López de Ochoa leads the Spanish branch of the multinational insurance company AEGON. Before she joined the company in 2012, Fernández López de...

In 2009, María Belén Quintas Fernández joined Tecnocom, a market-leading, multinational Spanish company operating in the information technology sector, with extensive experience in high-tech operations and a strong regional presence...

An industry expert, María Eugenia Aldama Garaizabal was responsible for the legal management of GE Capital Real Estate, the real estate investment unit of the American conglomerate General Electric, in...

Widely respected across the aviation industry of Portugal, Maria José Viegas is one of the most qualified aviation lawyers in the country. She joined ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, the Airport...

A highly respected Spanish lawyer, Maria Luz Medrano Aranguren is the vice general counsel and chief legal officer of Telefónica, the number one Spanish multinational by market capitalisation and one...

CBRE Global Investors is one of the world’s largest real estate investment management firms with approximately $88.4bn in assets under management globally. As the company’s general counsel for Spain and...

With 25 years of experience as a lawyer, contract specialist and negotiator in the international energy sector, Marina Paradela is a leading expert in the industry. Before joining CEPSA in...

‘Marta Almeida Afonso has significant experience in handling innovative and complex matters in different jurisdictions, despite her young age’ one source says. ‘She succeeds in motivating the teams in stressful...

Marta Casas heads the legal department of Abertis, the IBEX-35 Spanish conglomerate. Known as a very dynamic lawyer ‘Marta has shown an outstanding capacity in reorganising and adapting the legal...

Heading the international expansion of Allfunds Bank from a legal perspective, Marta Oñoro Carrascal is a respected voice in a niche industry. Allfunds Bank is Europe’s biggest institutional fund platform,...

Highly experienced and business-oriented, Mónica Calonje Conde is a legal counsel with extensive experience as in-house lawyer and external lawyer. She started her career in the corporate and commercial law...

Known as a ‘business-oriented’ lawyer, Natalia Bódalo Lozano joined CEPSA, the Spanish multinational oil and gas company, following a successful career in international law firms, including Gleiss Lutz in Frankfurt...

Prisa is the world’s leading Spanish and Portuguese language business group in the fields of education, information and entertainment, and with presence in 22 countries it reaches more than 60...

Managing 33 lawyers across a number of jurisdictions, Nieves García Lopez heads all legal support across SPAI (Spain, Portugal, Africa and Israel) operations of Accenture. She joined Accenture’s legal department...

‘A great leader, a first-class lawyer and a great person’ Nuno Moraes Bastos had five principles that allowed him to have this impressive career in such a short time: ‘obtain...

Tuenti, widely known as the “Spanish Facebook”, is a leading Spanish technology company that integrates telecommunications and social communication services with its own app to provide a multi-platform cloud experience...

Abengoa is an IBEX 35 listed Spanish multinational company that creates innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors. Since joining in 2010, Pablo Echenique Conde has...

VidaCaixa is a leading insurance company in Spain, and a subsidiary of CaixaBank, one of the largest banks operating in the Spanish market. Pablo Pernía Martin joined CaixaBank in 2012...

‘It is an honour to provide corporate legal advisory services related to such a life-enhancing purpose. It enables me to feel I am doing something to help the economic, social...

A seasoned in-house lawyer, Patrícia Marques Ferreira stands apart from her peers in her capacity to get results, with incredible speed and quality. She admits that her background in private...

When she became head of legal and compliance at the Portuguese branch of Volkswagen Bank in 2012, Patrícia Mendes’ first and defining task was the creation of the in-house legal...

At the helm of the Ascendi’s Portuguese legal team for the last 12 years, Paulo Marinho takes credit for the creation of the company’s in-house legal department. ‘I’ve created it...

‘Before I joined the company, the top management had just dismantled the legal department. I was hired to redesign the legal department with new people from scratch’ says Pedro Ferraz....

A highly skilled lawyer, Pedro Filipe Santos joined Aon Portugal, in 2004, with the task of establishing an in-house legal department. To grow his understanding of the company, he spent...

With broad private practice experience gained in Portugal and Mozambique, followed by eight years in-house in the multinational construction company Andrade Gutierrez, Pedro Vidigal Monteiro has a well-rounded background in...

A highly visible figure of the Spanish legal market, Ramiro Sánchez de Lerín serves as Telefónica’s general counsel and member of the executive committee. He began his career at Arthur...

During his time as head of legal at SENER, Ramón Varela Aldazábal has played a pivotal role in the company’s rapid international expansion. He created and implemented the structure of...

‘Since I was a teenager, I’ve always been concerned about environmental issues, so in 2005, I decided it was time to harmonise my calling for the defence of the planet...

At the age of 27 Rita Gaspar Simões became the first woman to hold the position of head of legal and compliance at Banco Invest. She recalls the first days...

Former director of legal for the Central Bank of Spain, Roberto Ugena led many of the bank’s defining projects and transactions during his eight-year tenure. He was part of the...

Rui Andrade heads the legal function of Andrade Gutierrez Europa, África, Ásia (AG EAA), one of the largest construction companies in Portugal, present in more than 30 countries. He joined...

Rui de Oliveira Neves is general counsel, head of compliance and company secretary at Galp Energia, a Portuguese energy company with activities in oil and gas exploration, production, transport, and...

A highly experienced and result-oriented lawyer, with more than 20 years’ multinational experience, Ruth Breitenfeld is the legal manager of Cepsa Trading. Cepsa is a Spanish multinational oil and gas...

Bergé y Cía is one of the biggest Spanish business groups with international outreach, mainly operating in the fields of maritime and ports, car distribution, logistics, renewable energy and finance....

Described by sources as ‘an outstanding lawyer with a high personal commitment and exceptional technical and people management skills’, ‘a very proactive and efficient lawyer’, ‘a problem solver’ and ‘a...

Following five years of private practice in the market-leading firm Garrigues, Sara Gonçalves joined the Portuguese branch of Endesa, the second largest electricity supplier in Portugal, to lead the creation...

Heading all legal operations of Turkish Airlines and managing more than 30 employees, Ali Uysal has led some significant changes in the legal department during his two years in the...

An increasingly respected voice in the Portuguese in-house market, Tiago Matias is a highly skilled lawyer, with vast experience in private practice and in-house roles. He started his career with...

‘Vanessa is a very focused and competent head of legal, she can handle virtually any issue that may occur in the insurance area’, according to one source. A recognised industry...