Barrilero appoints nine new partners
Bufete Barrilero y Asociados has appointed nine new partners, and expects to increase its turnover by 20% this year, following the strategic integration last year with the Portuguese firm SPS. The nine newly appointed partners are Joaquín Cardenal, Eduardo Martín, Zuriñe Castillo, Elisa Lemus, Marta Puig, Cristina Rodríguez, Meritxell García, Ernesto Grijalba and Marta Barrilero.
Among the new partners, Zuriñe Castillo, Eduardo Martín and Joaquín Cardenal are part of the firm’s commercial law division. Castillo specialises in M&A transactions, corporate restructurings and shareholder disputes, and acts as company secretary for several corporations. Eduardo Martín specialises in corporate and commercial law and leads Barrilero Legal Angels, a division focused on advising startups and entrepreneurs. Joaquín Cardenal has a track record in commercial, corporate and insolvency law, and has been involved in numerous corporate restructurings.
The firm’s employment practice is strengthened with the promotion to partner of Marta Puig, a labour lawyer with experience in litigation and collective bargaining; Cristina Rodríguez, who specialises in human resources, labour relations and equality matters; and Elisa Lemus, an expert in workforce reorganisations, immigration and crisis advisory work, who is also coordinator of the Alfa International legal network, of which Bufete Barrilero is the sole Spanish member.
New partner Meritxell García specialises in wealth planning, corporate restructurings and advising family-owned and business groups, while Ernesto Grijalba focuses on domestic and international taxation, as well as M&A and private equity.
Finally, Marta Barrilero has also been appointed partner. She is corporate business partner at Bufete Barrilero and has a background in defining and leading corporate strategy, communication and brand positioning.
Following these appointments, Barrilero now has a total of 31 partners. The law firm also expects to expand its workforce this year, reaching a total of 350 lawyers.
The promotion of the new partners comes at a strategic moment for the law firm which, according to managing partner Eduardo Barrilero, “faces clear opportunities in niches such as M&A, private equity, combined legal tech/AI services, and in sectors such as banking, energy and telecommunications”. Barrilero also believes that the legal sector will see intense competition to attract talent with technological capabilities. “Strengthening the firm’s international presence will also be a core objective in 2026,” he adds.
