Antonio has been a partner in the Litigation and Arbitration Department of Garrigues since 2005. He is currently also the partner in charge of the Civil and Commercial Litigation practice. He has been a member of the firm’s Council of Partners since 2022.

Antonio has spent the bulk of his career at Garrigues. After finishing his studies, he received a one-year scholarship from Fundación Empresa Pública, which he combined with an internship at specialist shipping law firm Figaredo & Asociados. He began working as a lawyer in 1995 at Arthur Andersen A.L.T. and was promoted in 2001, now as part of Garrigues, to the category of senior associate (manager).

Antonio specializes in civil and commercial litigation and has extensive experience in matters relating to obligations and contracts, noncontractual liability, corporate affairs, unfair competition, directors’ liability, successions, rights in rem and private equity, to name but a few. He is the lawyer of choice for litigious matters of some of the main financial institutions and companies, both Spanish and foreign.

His experience covers the resolution of all types of disputes, acting in proceedings before the law courts and arbitral tribunals. His expertise in this area includes participation in all types of court proceedings: from requests for injunctive relief to cassation appeals before the Supreme Court. He also has a wealth of experience in providing preventive advice for the avoidance or preparation of civil and business disputes, in negotiating and drafting settlement agreements and agreements to close and end disputes, preparing reports and legal opinions on disputed legal issues and issuing formal legal opinions in the areas of civil and commercial law, mainly relating to private economic law, corporate law and business law.

As regards his industry experience, he is an expert in litigation relating to the banking and finance, construction and insurance sectors, as well as to M&A transactions and private equity. He is the go-to lawyer for some of the largest financial institutions and companies in Spain and abroad.

Some of the cases he has acted in for clients include:

• Noncontractual liability for fire at a high-rise office building in Madrid. (Several lawsuits and numerous parties, amounting to a total of tens of millions of euros).
• Disputes relating to determination of the earn-out in an agreement for the sale and purchase of a majority stake in a telecoms operator. (Approximate amount: €40 million).
• Lawsuit relating to the settlement of a contract for the comprehensive refurbishment of a singular building, between a Spanish real estate company and one of the major listed construction companies (€8.5 million)
• Professional civil liability of auditors (several lawsuits, in defense of their correct conduct).
• Liability of financial institutions for the sale of Lehman Brothers structured bonds. (Several lawsuits. Approximate amount: €60 million).
• Liability of financial institutions for the sale of swap products (Several lawsuits. Indeterminate amount).
• Family lawsuits regarding succession and collation.
• Corporate disputes between majority and minority shareholders in a large family business group.
• Termination of a contract and claims for damages between two technology firms in relation to the construction of a national VoIP telephony network. (Approximate amount: €600 million).
• Lawsuit due to breach of a different contract for the construction of a telephony network between two other technology firms. (Indeterminate amount).
• Disputes relating to the challenge of corporate resolutions between a major listed company in the hotel sector and its majority shareholder.
• Termination of a contract for sale and purchase of land for the construction of a shopping mall in Madrid. (Approximate amount: €160 million).
• Arbitration in a claim for nullity of the contract for sale of a holding in a large family business group. (Approximate amount of the holding in dispute: €30 million).
• Claim seeking damages for noncontractual liability between two multinational telephone operators. (Amount: €600 million).
• Arbitration proceeding in respect of contractual liability for damages in a contract for the sale and purchase of land and the construction and marketing of a shopping mall in La Coruña. (Approximate amount: €20 million).
• Lawsuits in respect of termination of a franchise agreement with a national network of temporary employment agency franchisees. (Several lawsuits. Undetermined amount).
• Noncontractual liability for breach of toxic tailings dam. (Approximate amount: €300 million).
• Claims and defense in unfair competition proceedings. (Various lawsuits and sectors: financial headhunting, real estate consulting, construction components, etc. Approximate amount: several million euros).
• Lawsuits for breach of an agency agreement. (Various lawsuits and sectors: automotive, gas and electricity, among others).

• Degree in Law (with honors), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1986-1991).
• Diploma in Business Law, C.U. San Pablo C.E.U. Overall grade of honors (1986-1992).

Other training:

• Master’s Course on Foreign Trade, Madrid Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1994).
• Business Studies Course, City of London Polytechnic University. (Summer 1992)
• Courses on international law, comparative law and human rights at The College of William & Mary, Marshall-Whyte School of Law (Summer 1991).
• Audit Course. C.U. Luis Vives C.E.U. (1990).

For many years Antonio has been a lecturer on litigation practice at Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE E-1 and E-3). Also at Centro de Estudios Garrigues and on the Master’s Degree for Access to the Legal Profession at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He has given talks and lectures at universities such as ICADE, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidad San Pablo CEU and CUNEF.

He is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences organized by the firm and various specialist centers: Some examples: ICADE - Garrigues Chair: Cuestiones Procesales sobre el nuevo Régimen de Impugnación de Acuerdos Sociales (The New Rules on Challenging Corporate Resolutions: Procedural Aspects). Instituto de Fomento Empresarial (IFE): La responsabilidad Civil en la Construcción (Civil Liability in Construction), and Responsabilidad Civil de los administradores por las deudas sociales (Civil Liability of Directors for Corporate Debts). CEPYME: Gestión activa de la Crisis Empresarial (Active Management of the Business Downturn) and Algunas reflexiones sobre la importancia del asesoramiento preventivo del abogado procesalista (The Importance of Preventive Advice from Litigators: a Reflection). Association of Engineers: La Mediación y otros métodos alternativos de resolución de controversias (Mediation and Other Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods). BBVA Litigation Symposium: Las excepciones procesales en la Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (Procedural exceptions in the Civil Procedure Law). UNIJES Congress, ICADE, Univ. Deusto, Esade: Retos de la abogacía ante la Sociedad Global (Challenges for the Legal Profession in a Global Society) and La carrera profesional del abogado en un gran Despacho (The Professional Career of a Lawyer at a Major Law Firm), among others.

• Member of the Madrid Bar Association (member no. 57608).
• Vicepresident and Founding Partner of the Spanish Club of Businees Litigation (CEL)
• Member of the Spanish Arbitration Club.

In 2016 Antonio won the Client Choice Award, awarded annually by legal publication International Law Office, for Best Litigation Lawyer in Spain.

https://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/7481996/04/16/Garrigues-la-firma-espanola-mas-reconocida-en-los-Client-Choice-Awards-2016.html

He also features in the main international legal directories as one of the top civil and commercial litigation experts.

Chambers Global 2023. According to his clients:

“Antonio is a professional with an excellent degree of knowledge of his area of competence, which adds to his ability to understand the issues raised, marking successful strategies in the procedures, to which is added total dedication and a level of perfection in everything he does.”

“Antonio Entrena has a commercial vision, control of the cases, and it is easy to get in touch with him.”

For its part, Legal 500 mentions Antonio among the "Practice Heads" of Garrigues and one of the "most outstanding professionals with whom we have worked".

According to his clients:

"Antonio Entrena has a great technical knowledge of the processes, who uses full and meticulous dedication in each case, offering brilliant and diverse solutions and strategies to the different problems that arise".

Other examples of these directories is Best Lawyers.

Coauthor of various works and publications, as well as articles and press contributions. Some examples:

• “¿Puede entenderse implícita la pretensión de indemnización de daños y perjuicios en una resolución por incumplimiento contractual?” (Can Claims for Damages be Considered Implicit in Terminations due to Contractual Breach?) in Anuario de Práctica Contenciosa 2016. Ed. WOLTERS KLUWER.
• “Las cláusulas escalonadas de resolución de conflictos: reflexiones sobre su aplicación práctica” (Staggered Dispute Resolution Clauses: Thoughts On Their Practical Application) in the collective work Las medidas preventivas de conflictos jurídicos en contextos económicos inestables. Ed. J.M. BOSCH EDITOR 2014,
• “Reclamación contra entidades bancarias por inversiones en productos estructurados de Lehman Brothers: un precedente judicial firme” (Claim against Banks for Investments in Structured Products Offered by Lehman Brothers: a Firm Judicial Precedent) in Anuario de Derecho Contencioso 2011. Ed. LA LEY.