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Overview

The property crash had a profound effect on Spain’s previously buoyant economy, which was also affected by a decline in tourism, although many law firms did note an improvement on the previous year, including a slight increase in private equity deals in the latter half of 2010. Meanwhile, M&A remained limited and dominated by the large firms. While bankruptcies decreased, restructuring and insolvency was a major area of activity for a number of firms including the restructuring of several Spanish banks.

Lawyers practising in the areas of environment law, TMT, IP and arbitration were kept busy by energy and telecoms work. Despite fewer redundancies, employment lawyers reported a number of mass dismissal cases. Litigation was also a key area of activity, particularly for finance, tax and securities disputes.

Spain is dominated by the historical ‘Big Three’ domestic firms – Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira, Garrigues and Uría Menéndez. The UK firms of Clifford Chance, Linklaters SL and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer follow closely, particularly when competing for top-end transactions, and newcomer Herbert Smith LLP has made a good first impression in the market.

The new Transport section includes shipping, aviation and other transport sectors.

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