Jones Day celebrates 25 years
Managing partner Marta Delgado reflects on the firm’s evolution, the keys to its leadership, and future challenges
by ilaria iaquinta
The year 2025 marks a significant milestone for Jones Day in Spain, as it celebrates 25 years since the opening of its Madrid office. It was in the year 2000 that the international firm commenced its operations in the Spanish capital. Since then, as Marta Delgado Echevarría, managing partner since January 2023, recalls in a conversation with Iberian Lawyer, “the firm has evolved in step with the business world and in line with the firm’s own development. We are an integrated firm within a global firm and we work under the principle of one firm worldwide, something deeply ingrained in our culture and which has grown significantly in the last 10 or 15 years”.
MILESTONES
Over the past 25 years, Jones Day’s Madrid office has experienced significant growth, both in the number of lawyers and the diversity of its practice areas. “As an American firm, we place great emphasis on litigation and corporate transactions. However, we have also seen remarkable development in other practices, particularly financial markets, global disputes, and real estate”, explains Marta Delgado. Currently, the areas with the most lawyers are real estate and financial markets (each with seven lawyers, ed.), followed by corporate and global disputes (each with six, ed). However, this distribution has already begun to change with the recent addition of José Luis Pita and Borja Carpintero as partner and of counsel, respectively, to the finance team currently led by Javier López Antón and Iván Martín-Barbón—a development officially announced by the firm and exclusively reported by Iberian Lawyer (here the news). The global disputes team “is notably active in the legislative development of class actions in Spain, a matter of particular relevance to us as a U.S. firm, given that approximately half of our global revenue comes from the global disputes area”.
One area that has recently gained prominence is real estate, considered one of the firm’s major specialties. “Currently, we have seven lawyers and continue to grow. We are involved in the most sophisticated mandates in the market. We offer advice from the transactional side, with Javier Muñoz as a partner, and from the urban planning and real estate law side, with Luis Jiménez-Díaz, providing a comprehensive perspective that few firms can offer”, adds Delgado.
Unlike other firms with more hierarchical structures, Jones Day emphasises the active and direct involvement of its partners and senior lawyers in each matter, as highlighted by the managing partner. “We place great value on high-quality advice and added value. In the complex litigation and transactions, we handle, it’s rare for a matter to be led solely by an associate; typically, the partner or partners involved are very present”, she explains. This operational model has driven sustained growth for the firm, not only in revenue but also in the strategic expansion of its practices. “Our revenue growth is directly linked to our business model, where partners or senior lawyers participate directly in operations. This allows us to achieve high levels of profitability without the need to exponentially increase our workforce”, Delgado notes. Jones Day’s advisory approach is also characterised by its comprehensive focus: “We concentrate on sophisticated, high value-added law, where the partner’s contribution is key to success”, Delgado concludes.
LEADERSHIP
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