The new generation at the helm
A slow generational shift is reshaping leadership, management models and strategic priorities across law firms in Spain and Portugal
by glória paiva
In a slow but steady movement, the millennial generation — born between 1980 and 1995 — is beginning to reach the top of law firms and to reshape the way they are managed, including in the Iberian market. In a sector increasingly recognised as a profitable business, these new leaders are bringing a more corporate mindset, with greater focus on results, technology, internal wellbeing and internationalisation.
According to Iberian Lawyer’s rankings of the largest law firms by revenue in Spain and Portugal (click to read) — which together comprise 70 firms — only four managing partners were born after 1980. All of them are based in Spain: Ignacio Hornedo (A&O Shearman), Alfonso Codes Calatrava (CMS Albiñana), Alejandro Touriño (Ecija) and Talmac Bel (Fieldfisher).
Martínez-Echevarría’s country head in Portugal, Ignacio Cacho, aged 38, has coordinated the Spanish firm’s operations across six offices since 2024. Other names that narrowly fall outside the scope of this analysis, but who assumed managing partner roles before the age of 45, include Esteban Ceca Gómez-Arevalillo, 46, who has led Ceca Magán in Spain since 2008, and Bruno Ferreira, 48, managing partner of Portugal’s PLMJ since 2020.
In larger, more traditional law firms, the average tenure of a managing partner is around 15 years and leadership renewal remains a rare event, notes Ignacio Bao, managing partner for Spain and Portugal and emeritus chairman of the board at Signium. “Managing partners are predominantly internal appointments with extensive experience, often embodying the firm’s personality”, he observes.
The picture changes significantly among boutique firms. In Spain, examples include Samuel Rivero, 44, managing partner of TKL Think Legal since 2016; Juan Ignacio Apoita, 35, of Apoita Carvajal; Delia Rodríguez, 42, of Vestalia Abogados; and Juan Gonzalo Ospina, 39, of Ospina Abogados. In Portugal, examples include João André Antunes, 42, of Fieldfisher; Eduardo Castro Marque, 39, of Dower Law Firm; Diana Cabral Botelho, 40, of Fides Law; and José Calejo Guerra, 42, of CCSL Advogados.
Also, in some cases, these are firms founded by former partners of more traditional practices. “Boutiques are typically established by younger former partners seeking greater autonomy for their own projects”, explains Bao. This is the case of Francisco Proença de Carvalho, 45, formerly of Uría Menéndez and founder of Proença de Carvalho; António Gaspar Schwalbach, 43, formerly of Pares Advogados and founder of Spear Legal; Catarina Belim, 44, who founded Belim after nine years at Vieira de Almeida; and João Quintela Cavaleiro, 45, formerly of Sérvulo and founder of Cavaleiro & Associados in 2011.
The winds of change
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