Santiago Thomás de Carranza y Méndez de Vigo

Santiago Thomás de Carranza is managing partner of the Madrid office, and is a practising lawyer, economist and university lecturer.

He studied Law at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Economics at the Shiller International University. After obtaining his degree he prepared for the competitive examinations for entry into the Corps of State Lawyers. In 1997 he joined Despacho Melchor de las Heras as a lawyer, working in the corporate and public law departments. In 2003, he co-founded the firm of Thomás de Carranza, Abogados.

Santiago has wide practical experience in corporate and financial law as well as in administrative/regulatory law and litigation.

In the corporate/financial field he has taken part in numerous business acquisitions, venture capital operations and the preparation, negotiation and drafting of contracts and collaboration agreements between a variety of companies. He has been involved in the design and implementation of different project finance structures, mainly in the field of renewable energies, and has advised clients in the financing, pre-construction, start-up and supply phases.

In the area of administrative and regulatory law, Santiago has considerable practical experience in both consultation and litigation. He has advised the Ministry of Development on the programme of toll motorways and on its adaptation to new methods of financing, as well as other public bodies and organisations. He has also counselled numerous private entities on their relations with the public authorities in such varied aspects as public contracts, service concessions (water, ports, etc.), postal services, environmental protection, telecoms, expropriations, liability of public authorities, etc.

Santiago has over 16 years experience in litigation, principally in the contentious-administrative, civil and commercial jurisdictions, and has also acted in arbitration proceedings as legal adviser. He was Chairman of the Appeals Committee of the Spanish Royal Equestrian Federation (2008–2010) and is currently Deputy Chairman of its Disciplinary Committee (2010) and a member of the Horse Racing Appeals Committee (2010).

Finally, as regards his academic activities, Santiago has been a lecturer in the School of Legal Practice at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid since 2000 (teaching contentious-administrative law and civil litigation) and a lecturer at the Universidad Francisco in Vitoria (responsible for Administrative Law I and II since 2001-2002). He has written studies and articles and has been a speaker at a variety of legal seminars.

Practice areas: Litigation, Corporate and Administrative Law. Education: Degree in Law from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid Bachelor. Bachelor Degree in Economics (Schiller International University). Doctoral studies (Advanced Studies Diploma – Cátedra Unesco). Languages: Spanish and English. Associations: Madrid Bar Association