Chillin'Competition

Official Bio

Alfonso Lamadrid is a Partner at the EU and Competition Law Department of Garrigues, the head of the firm’s Brussels office, and a Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges).

He holds LL.M. degrees from Harvard Law School (2010) and the College of Europe (2007), and obtained a Law degree with a specialization in EU Law (Summa cum laude) from San Pablo CEU University (2006).

He has extensive experience in all areas of competition law as well as vast litigation experience, having acted on behalf of clients in over 75 cases before EU Courts.

In 2019 he was named “Lawyer of the Year (Under 40)” by Global Competition Review. In 2020 and 2021 he was the recipient of the Client Choice Award for Competition in Belgium. He features in GCR’s “40 under 40” list of top antitrust experts worldwide (2020). In 2018 he was one of the six candidates shortlisted by the International Bar Association for the Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award, covering all jurisdictions and practice areas.

All major legal directories (including Chambers, Legal 500, GCR/Who’s Who, IFLR, Best Lawyers and Acritas Star Lawyers) recognize Alfonso as a leading competition lawyer internationally. Prior to his promotion to partner, between 2014 and 2019, Chambers ranked him as the only “Star Associate” in EU competition law (“widely regarded as the rising star in EU competition law” with “outstanding experience in court appeals” (2017); “a dream lawyer in that he combines technical skills of the highest level and absolutely outstanding public relationship skills” (2018), “one of the brightest lawyers of his generation (…) clients enthuse that Lamadrid “thinks strategically, is smart, empathetic and understands the business” (2019)). He has also been singled out by The Legal 500 as a “Next Generation Partner” in EU competition law (2018-2022), and by GCR/Who’s Who as “Most Highly Recommended Future Leader” and as a “Thought Leader”. 

He is also the director of the EU and Spanish Competition Law Course at the IEB (Madrid), Visiting professor at the Brussels School of Competition (Brussels), and has lectured at several national and international universities and institutions , including Harvard Law School, the European University Institute, the Academy of European Law, the London School of Economics, the Global Competition Law Centre, the European Association of Competition Law Judges, the Rome Antitrust Forum and the Spanish and Swedish competition authorities. Alfonso has also trained competition enforcers from China, Japan, India, Korea, Spain, ASEAN countries and the EFTA Surveillance Authority. Between 2017 and 2021 he was a non-governmental advisor of the European Commission before the International Competition Network.

Representative Highlights

• Representing Google before the General Court of the EU in proceedings seeking the annulment of the European Commission’s Google Android decision.
• Representing the CCIA before the Court of Justice of the EU in appeal proceedings in relation to the General Court’s Google Shopping Judgment.
• Representing Banco Santander, World Duty Free, Abertis, AXA and Prosegur before the General Court and the CJEU in the saga related to the European Commission’s financial goodwill State aid decisions.
• Representing Abengoa in the context of a cartel investigation, related Court proceedings and and eventual settlement with the European Commission (Ethanol Benchmarks).
• Representing over 40 applicants before the General Court and the Court of Justice of the EU in annulment proceedings against the European Commission’s State aid decision in the Spanish tax lease saga.
• Representing the UK Producers Alliance for Cinema and TV in the context of the European Commission’s Hollywood Studios/Pay-TV investigation.
• Representing Cellnex Telecom and several other applicants in various annulment proceedings before the General Court and the Court of Justice of the EU against two European Commission Decisions regarding alleged State aid to Digital Terrestrial Television.
• Representing a cement producer before the European Commission and the General Court of the EU in relation to the European Commission’s Cement investigation and challenged requests for information.
• Representing Cisco Systems before the General Court of the EU on its application for the annulment of the European Commission’s Microsoft/Skype decision.
• Representing the European Commission in various annulment proceedings concerning its Pre-Stressed Steel cartel decision.