The practice
How we work
Most people writing to this site are dealing with Spain from somewhere else, in a language that is not the one the documents are written in, on a timetable set by a notary, a registry or a tax deadline. What follows is how we handle that, and what it costs.
One lawyer, and you know which one
You will deal with David Fernández García throughout. Work that genuinely needs a specialist — a Spanish tax adviser on a complex structure, a procurador to file in court, a sworn translator, local counsel in your own country — is brought in openly, named, and quoted before it starts. Nothing is passed down to someone junior without telling you.
That is a limit as much as a feature. This is a small practice. If a matter needs a team of fifteen and a full data room, we will say so and point you somewhere that has one.
Four stages, priced at each one
Scope. A call, at no charge, to establish what you are actually trying to do, what Spanish law will require, and whether this is work we should take. If it is not, you will get a referral rather than a proposal.
Assess. Written analysis of the specific thing in front of you: the target company, the property, the estate. Title, liabilities, applicable law, tax exposure, and any authorisation the operation needs. This is where most surprises surface, and it is deliberately a separate, fixed-fee stage — you can stop here.
Structure. How the transaction should be held, financed and sequenced. Who signs what, in what order, and what each signature commits you to.
Execute. Contracts, negotiation, notary and registry, and the filings that follow completion. Spanish transactions are not finished at signature; they are finished when the registry entry and the tax filings are done.
You approve each stage before it is billed. You are never carried into the next one by default.
Fees
Fixed fees wherever the scope can be fixed, which is most of the time. Hourly only where it genuinely cannot — contested matters, mainly — and then with an agreed cap that is not exceeded without your written approval.
Every engagement starts with a letter setting out the scope, the fee, what is excluded and who else will be involved. Third-party costs — notary, registry, court fees, procurador, translation, taxes — are yours and are always quoted separately from our fee.
Spanish law permits contingency arrangements in some circumstances. We rarely use them, and never on advisory work.
Language and time zones
All work is done in English. Documents that must be executed in Spanish come with a working English translation so you are not signing something you cannot read. Sworn translations, where a public authority requires one, are quoted separately.
We are in Madrid, Central European Time.
Before we can act for you
Two things have to happen before any engagement starts, and neither is optional.
Conflict check. We confirm that we do not act, and have not acted, for anyone on the other side of your matter.
Client identification. Spanish anti-money-laundering law requires us to identify you, to identify the beneficial owner behind any company or structure, and to understand the source of the funds. For a foreign client this means documents, and it takes a few days. Starting it early is the single easiest way to keep a transaction on schedule.
Until both are done, anything you send is not covered by the protections that attach to an engagement. Please do not send confidential documents before we have confirmed we can act.
What we will not do
We do not introduce buyers to sellers, list assets for sale, or take a commission on a transaction. We act for one side and we are paid by that side — that is what independence means here, and it is what our professional rules require.