Clayton & Segura > Brussels, Belgium > Firm Profile

Clayton & Segura > Firm Profile

The firm: Clayton & Segura is a Brussels-based law firm specialised in EU and EEA law with a special focus on the field of state aid. It was founded in 2013 by Marianne Clayton and Maria Segura. Its partners had worked for more than ten years on state aid matters both at the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority, the institution in charge of implementing the EEA Agreement. Following up on their earlier professional experience at leading international law firms and convinced that their experience within regulators would be an asset, they decided to open a boutique law firm specialised on their niche expertise of state aid, an area of European competition law in expansion. The firm now counts four lawyers all specialised in state aid.

Areas of practice: Clayton & Segura provides comprehensive advice on state aid and in related aspects of EU and EEA legal matters. The firm advises national, regional or local authorities regarding new or existing aid measures, private or public companies with regards to any state aid question, represents beneficiaries in state aid investigations, and assists clients regarding complaints against competitors having benefited from state aid. Clayton & Segura provides advice in all matters related to state aid irrespective of the nature of the measure (tax, guarantees, investments, loans, etc).

The firm is active in every field of state aid (RDI, regional aid, infrastructure) and has developed a specific expertise in the areas of energy, taxation and services of general economic interest (SGEI). Its lawyers intervene at any stage of a state aid dossier: design of a measure in order to avoid state aid or to ensure that it is compatible with the internal market, general advice, notification of aid measures to the European Commission or to the EFTA Surveillance Authority, submission of complaints, litigation before the European jurisdictions, state aid audits of public bodies. The advice given to clients always calls upon the first-hand knowledge of the decision-making process and wide network of contacts within the European institutions, in particular, the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority.

The firm has been involved in landmark cases before the European jurisdictions such as: the Spanish tax lease and the Belgian excess profit rulings case.

The members of the firm are regular contributors to state aid law journals.