The international law firm Eversheds Sutherland has incorporated the Deputy Chief State Lawyer of the Department of International Arbitration of the State Attorney General's Office, Rafael Gil Nievas, to reinforce the Litigation and Arbitration area of ​​the firm's Spanish office.

The Eversheds Sutherland global network has more than 750 partners and 3,000 lawyers, is present in 35 countries and its 74 offices are located in the main cities and financial centers of Europe, the United States, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Likewise, they maintain an Alliance with 22 Latin American firms to advise their clients on their business in Latin America.

Rafael Gil Nievas is an expert in international arbitration, throughout his professional career he has acquired a high specialization in comprehensive advice on different energy businesses (especially focused on Spain and Latin America), commercial and investment arbitration, litigation and dispute resolution. , corporate governance, financing contracts, M&A, etc. Thus, as State attorney, Gil Nievas has been responsible for defending the Kingdom of Spain in numerous international arbitrations, mostly in energy matters.

An example of his work as defender of the Kingdom of Spain is the recent award in which the Arbitration State Advocacy has managed to get an arbitral tribunal to recognize that EU law prevails over the investment treaty of the Energy Charter, being This is the first time that this allegation has been accepted after 62 precedents against it. Likewise, Rafael was the lead counsel in the victory of the State Attorney in an arbitration of 1.5 billion euros in the matter of renewable energies, and has been a negotiator in the reform of the Energy Charter Treaty.

At the service of the Public Administration, he has also held the positions of Chief State Lawyer at the State Attorney's Office in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as other positions as Minister of Justice and legal advisor at the Permanent Representation of Spain before the EU, a position from which he was the negotiator of different legal instruments such as the Renewable Energy Promotion Directive (2009/28); Rome I Regulation (593/2008); the Environmental Damage Directive (2004/35); Rome II Regulation (864/2007); the Directive on OPAs (2004/25) and Cross-Border Mergers (2005/56); the Mediation Directive (2008/52); European Executive Title (Regulation 805/2004); o The Intellectual Property Protection Directive (Directive 2004/48); among others.

Extensive international experience

Other of his positions throughout his professional career have been those of president of the special group created by the Council of the EU for the analysis of the legal aspects of the financial and economic crisis; Chairman of the EU Council Civil Law Committee; as well as representative of Spain at the Hague Conference on Private International Law and at ICSID, for the negotiation and drafting of international treaties on Private International Law (appointed sole spokesperson for the EU Member States in 2010). He also participated in the drafting of the Lisbon Treaty.

Graduated from Harvard Law School in Negotiation, Mediation and Conflict Resolution, graduated in Law from Columbia Law School (LL.M) and graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid, Gil Nievas has also held the position of General Director of Services Cepsa Legal; Director of Iberdrola's Legal Services for the Americas; as well as secretary and member of the Board of Directors of various public and private entities.

He is also a professor of Alternative Methods of Dispute Resolution, Mediation and Arbitration at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE), as well as a regular speaker at many national and international conferences and congresses.

For the managing partner of Eversheds Sutherland in Spain, Jacobo Martínez, "Gil Nievas's extensive and recognized career, as well as his extremely high specialization and comprehensive knowledge of all aspects related to the extremely complex world of international arbitration, will mean that Eversheds Sutherland form one of the strongest international and investment arbitration teams in Spain. The incorporation of him to our firm will allow us to have new support in various areas and, above all, further strengthen the arbitration practice, in which great movements are expected in the near future”.

"The incorporation of Rafael represents a very important boost for the practice of International Arbitration in Spain and consolidates us as one of the reference firms in advising our clients in their disputes, whether commercial or investment, mainly in Europe and Latin America", he points out. Antonio Bravo, partner of the firm's Litigation and Arbitration area.