CCS & Hitchings join forces to tender for ADIF

CCS Abogados and Hitchings have joined forces to tender for ADIF’s demands against the “AVE Cartel”

The two law firms CCS Abogados and Hitchings have signed a collaboration agreement to present themselves to the tender processed by ADIF, to contract the services in charge of providing Legal and procedural advice on the case.

In 2019, the CNMC sanctioned 15 companies, some multinationals and other leaders in their sector in Spain, to pay a fine of 118 million euros for forming various cartels to distribute public tenders for ADIF’s railway infrastructure between 2002 and 2016.

A few months ago, ADIF opened the tender to contract Legal services to claim the damages derived from the cartel with a deadline, to present the contest, which ended on December 20. This has led to movements in the field of some law firms that are currently important players in this area.

A spokesperson for the firm said: “CCS Abogados is the law firm in Spain that handles the largest number of claims for damages in Spain against the “truck cartel” representing the interests of more than 4,500 companies associated with the Spanish Confederation of Goods Transport (CETM), and counts in its ranks with Francisco Marcos, one of the academics with the greatest prestige and experience in the field of Competition Law.”

They added: “For his part, Paul Hitchings, managing partner of Hitchings & Co., is also one of the most reputable specialists in antitrust damages, thanks to his experience handling some of the most notorious cases of damages claims for infringements of the law of the Jurisdiction, both in Spanish courts and in other European jurisdictions (milk cartel, truck cartel, decennial insurance cartel, Spanish fruit and vegetable packaging cartel, cartel of carbon electrical products in England and France, cartel of maritime hoses, the Visa / Mastercard litigation in London or the “Conduit” case against Telefónica).”

Until the end of 2020, the year in which he created his own law firm, Hitchings & Co., Paul Hitchings was the partner responsible for this practice at Cuatrecasas and was also director of the Legal team that prepared the Passing-on Study for the Commission European.

According to Jaime Concheiro (pictured left), managing partner of CCS Abogados, “This collaboration agreement allows us to add the remarkable experience of Paul Hitchings to the CCS Abogados team and continue in our continuous effort to improve and seek excellence in the provision of their legal services.”

He added: The sum of Paul Hitchings and our of counsel, Francisco Marcos, has allowed us to present a candidacy of exceptional technical quality and gives us the necessary experience to be able to take on this challenge and the responsibility that comes with having to provide a great professional service, with a high expertise. in a very novel case and that, without a doubt, will have a great repercussion. “

For his part, Paul Hitchings (pictured right), managing partner of Hitchings & Co., affirms: “This project represents a new milestone in antitrust practice in Spain as it involves claims for damages by a public company against its suppliers, and follows in the wake of other projects similar in which we have participated, notably the Deutsche Bahn group. The ADIF case is the ideal opportunity to offer our experience in how to resolve matters of this type, characterised by complex economic evidence and the presence of several co-offenders, and thus contribute to the excellent candidacy that CCS has presented for the entity’s contract railway.”