Madrid annual report
Firm re-
engineering
The workflow for law firms
in Madrid is looking much
healthier than it did 12
months ago – however,
this is posing difficulties for
managing partners who now
have to consider the best way
to use their resources to meet
rising demand
The good news for law firms in
Madrid is that their workload
is increasing. Transactional
activity – especially in the real
estate, financial services and
renewable sectors – is on the rise
and law firms report being much
busier than they were a year ago,
when political wrangling meant
the country appeared to be in
a state of paralysis. However,
winning more mandates also
brings considerable challenges,
in particular that of how to best
deploy resources in order to meet
the surge in client demand. While
there may be a temptation for
some firms to go on a recruitment
drive in an effort to increase
headcount, memories of making
layoffs during the crisis years
mean that this is a strategy that
can cause some concern among
managing partners.
Among the problems currently
plaguing law firm leaders is how
to increase efficiency. One way
of doing this is to hire project
managers, but such roles – which
may often be filled by non-
acknowledge that partners can
sometimes be reluctant to bow to
their demands. Meanwhile, talent
retention remains probably the
biggest headache. With a new
generation of lawyers that are less
than keen to work 12-hour days
– an expectation that previous
generations may have reluctantly
accepted was just part of the job
– law firms have to find a magic
formula to strike the right work-
life balance, while also providing
the right environment for women
lawyers to flourish. There is a
widely held view that one of the
biggest failures of law firms is the
fact that they allow many talented
female lawyers to slip from their
grasp before they break into the
partnership.
Distressed assets
attractive
Pedro Pérez-Llorca,
Class action
managing partner at
litigation will increase
Pérez-Llorca, says that
[in Spain].
there is substantial
interest from funds
José María Segovia
– as well as other
Uría Menéndez
investors – in relation
to the Spanish real
estate, financial services
and media sectors. In
addition, he says there
has been notable M&A
lawyers – can be controversial.
activity in the renewables sector.
Though project managers may
However, Pérez-Llorca says that
be highly effective in some
one of the key challenges for law
firms, some managing partners
firms is satisfying client demand,
“
26 • IBERIAN LAWYER • May / June 2017
”
which is becoming more difficult
due to the increase in workload.
Funds are showing an increased
interest in investing in the
infrastructure, energy and real
estate sectors, with distressed
assets also proving to be attractive,
according to Ashurst’s Madrid
office managing partner María
José Menéndez. She adds that
financial institutions continue to
sell loan portfolios, including non-
performing loans.
There will be further
consolidation in the financial
sector, says Linklaters’ Madrid
managing partner Iñigo Berricano.
He continues: “There will be a
concentration of financial sector
platforms, as well as consolidation
among insurance businesses, and
with regard to private equity,
there will be ‘dual tracks’ [in
which a business pursues an IPO
while simultaneously running a
confidential, private auction to
sell the company]. Meanwhile,
Allen & Overy partner Ignacio
Ruiz-Cámara says there has
been considerable investment in
“infrastructure and tariff-related
assets” in the last year.
There was a notable increase
in work for law firms in Spain in
the early part of 2017 compared to
the same period the previous year.
“A year ago, after the election,
there was little work in the first
quarter of 2016, but now there is
plenty of work,” says Araoz &
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