Clifford Chance Spain

In October 2016, Jaime Velázquez, managing partner of Clifford Chance in Spain ("CC"), was preparing for the monthly partners meeting. Although the firm had managed to successfully navigate the severe economic crisis and was now seeing solid growth, many dark clouds were approaching for the Spanish economy. For starters, the country had been without a government for almost a full year, after the political deadlock resulting from the second general election. Secondly, the comments coming from Europe's top leaders suggested that the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union (known as Brexit) would be more painful than expected. These new concerns were added to existing ones, such as the possible adjustment of the firm's strategy and positioning in Spain, geographic expansion, product and client policy, and talent management. The decisions to be made in the coming months would need to help CC build its business in Spain, while sustaining the growth of the firm's profitability.