Outline Chambers

Fernando Del Canto is a Barrister of England and Wales and an Abogado of the Madrid Bar, and the first Spanish national to be admitted to both Bars. His practice focuses on International Private Client work, with established expertise in advising high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, digital nomads, public figures and their families, and the professional advisers who act for them. He is regulated by the Bar Standards Board, authorised to accept direct instructions under the Public Access scheme where suitable, dual-qualified to act as Counsel and lead advocate before the courts of England and Wales and the courts of Spain, and a European Registered Lawyer with the Bar Council of Ireland.

​The practice draws together, under a single Counsel relationship, the disciplines that the modern internationally mobile client requires: estates, trusts and succession; tax and domicile; international residency and global mobility; family and matrimonial; private client advisory; and asset protection. Within each, Counsel acts in the language of the jurisdiction concerned and on the basis of qualifications and rights of audience independently obtained in each.

Counsel is based between London, Madrid, Dublin, Bogotá and Dubai, and is regularly instructed by solicitors, licensed access professionals, notaries in England and Wales, notarios públicos in Spain, attorneys, auditors, IFAs, wealth managers, family offices and private banks. He has been instructed in proceedings, transactions and advisory mandates engaging the laws and courts of the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, the United States, Colombia, India, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, and has acted in arbitral proceedings under ICC Rules seated in London.

He serves as a member of the tax advisory group to the Lord Mayor of the City of London, contributing to the briefings that support the Lord Mayor’s overseas engagement with foreign officials, ministers and regulators on international taxation matters, and to the working dialogue between the City’s financial institutions and the European and Latin American business communities.

​Beyond private client work, he has acted for sovereign clients, public bodies and foreign governments, for international charities and not-for-profit organisations on tax, governance and regulatory matters, and in proceedings engaging diplomatic and State immunity.

The International Private Client Practice

Counsel undertakes the full range of work that the modern private client requires, in alignment with the six areas of the Chambers Private Client Practice:

Estates, Trusts and Succession. Advisory counsel and court representation on wills, trusts, probate and succession across jurisdictions, with particular focus on the interaction of English private international law with Spanish, EU and Latin American succession rules; contentious and non-contentious probate; cross-border succession disputes; international estate planning for non-domiciled individuals; and the EU Succession Regulation 650/2012.

​Tax and Domicile. Advisory counsel on residence, domicile and the tax position of the internationally mobile client; inheritance tax planning; income tax and capital gains advice on international asset structures; HMRC enquiries and Hacienda inspecciones with a cross-border dimension; and tax advice on the acquisition and disposal of property in the United Kingdom, Spain, Latin America and GCC jurisdictions.

​International Residency and Global Mobility. Advisory counsel on worldwide residence and mobility options across the United Kingdom, Spain, the UAE and internationally, including dual nationality across UK, EU, GCC, Spanish and Latin American law.

​Family and Matrimonial. Advisory counsel and representation in cross-border divorce, financial remedy and international child custody proceedings; pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements with a multi-jurisdictional dimension; jurisdiction disputes; recognition of foreign matrimonial orders in England and Wales; and the legal consequences of dual nationality and international residence.

​Private Client Advisory. Cross-border advisory counsel drawing on dual qualification, language capability and recognised expertise across the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland and the wider civil-law world. A single instruction addresses the full multi-jurisdictional picture, from Conflict of Laws to civil-code succession, from English probate to Spanish succession, from GCC civil law to EU family instruments. Advisory opinions, planning advice and strategic guidance are delivered in English and Spanish, with working capacity in further European, Latin American and Gulf languages.

​Asset Protection. Advisory counsel and representation on asset protection matters of immediate concern to internationally mobile clients, including the enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards across jurisdictions, jurisdiction disputes over international assets, claims against banks and financial institutions, and matters at the intersection of private client and civil fraud law. Where instructions engage criminal, extradition or sanctions proceedings, Chambers’ specialist practices are available to advise alongside.

Notable Cases

• Acted in high-net-worth Spanish divorce proceedings involving substantial cross-border assets.

• Advised on claims against Spanish banks and financial institutions.

• Advised on the acquisition of prime Madrid real estate through a SOCIMI structure.

• Advised the Spanish Government and the Abogacía General del Estado on estate proceedings in England engaging public international law and arbitration.

• Acted in proceedings engaging diplomatic and State immunity for international organisations in civil, immigration and employment matters.

• Instructed in an ICC arbitration seated in London between a GCC State and a commercial counterparty.

• Acted on a sovereign-fund investment from the GCC into Grupo PRISA, the largest Spanish-language media group.

• Advised on the acquisition of the intellectual property assets of a Spanish La Liga football club by an NYSE-listed SPAC.

• Led legal due diligence on the acquisition of Spain’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer by an NYSE-listed SPAC.

• Advised on the European restructuring of Sunseeker International and Taylor Woodrow.

• Provided tax and corporate advice to professional football clubs including Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona and Valencia CF.

• Advised the Instituto Cervantes on legal matters in the United Kingdom.

• Developed European intellectual property and tax strategies for an international franchising group.

• Advised on the rebranding and licensing of a major cinema operator in the GCC.

• Advised HuffPost on the launch of its Arabic platform.

• Advised international charities on tax, corporate and governance matters across the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Called: 2006 (England and Wales)

Abogado of the Madrid Bar 1999 (Spain)

Licensed to Conduct Litigation

International Private Client Counsel

Qualified to Accept Public Access Instructions

Fernando has represented private and public clients in major global jurisdictions, including Madrid, New York, London, Dublin, Delhi, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Doha, Dubai, and Hong Kong. His clientele ranges from private individuals and families to multinational corporations.

As the first Spanish national to qualify for both the Spanish Bar (1999) and the English Bar (2006), Fernando holds memberships in The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and The Honourable Society of Middle Temple. As a City of London Liveryman, he regularly advises the Lord Mayor on international tax issues.

English, Spanish

​• Spanish Bar (1999); member of the Ilustres Colegios de Abogados de Jerez de la Frontera, Madrid and Palma de Mallorca.

• Bar of England and Wales (2006); called by The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.

• Ad Eundem Member of The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple (2022).

• European Registered Lawyer with the Bar Council of Ireland.

• Liveryman of the City of London (2012); Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers.

• Member of the Association of Taxation Technicians (since 2003).

• PhD in Law (in progress), Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London (2024 – Present)

• LLB in International Law (Honours), Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 1998

• Monetising Intellectual Property Program, Harvard Business School, 2008

• Diploma in Total Quality Management, University of Phoenix, 1995

Publications and Films

Author of Abogacía Crítica (Thomson Reuters, 2021), a study of legal ethics and the lawyer’s role in a global society, with forewords by Juan Luis Cebrián, Honorary Chairman of El País, and former Judge Baltasar Garzón. Contributing author for LexisNexis Middle East (lexismiddleeast.com/author/FernandoDel_Canto). Quoted and published in The Times, the Financial Times, El País and Taxation (UK) on international tax, governance and post-Brexit regulation. Regular invited speaker at conferences across Europe, Latin America and the Gulf on transparency, cross-border cooperation and the regulatory environment for internationally mobile private clients.

​

Documentary Work

Producer of two sociolegal documentaries directed by Jesús Armesto. Los Burgueses de Calais, la Última Frontera (2018), featuring former Judge Baltasar Garzón, examines media disinformation surrounding the refugee crisis at the Calais “Jungle” camp. Las Llaves de la Memoria (2014) considers Andalusia’s historical and cultural legacy and the coexistence of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, with a critical perspective on Spanish nationality and colonialism.