Antonio Hierro

Practice Areas

International arbitration

Career

Antonio Hierro serves as an arbitrator focusing on international commercial and investment-treaty arbitrations conducted in English, Spanish and French, in ad hoc arbitrations, including arbitrations administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), and institutional arbitrations administered by the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other courts, mainly in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

Antonio’s experience as an international arbitrator includes notable cases with states and public entities along with multinationals, involving Energy & Natural Resources, Construction & Engineering, Consortium & Joint Ventures, Government and National Defence and Investment-Treaty arbitration.

Professional Memberships

He is a former member of the following Courts of Arbitration:

• International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) from 2009 to 2014

• London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) from 2010 to 2015

Having successfully passed a public merit-based selection process organised by the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Antonio is currently included on the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators

Antonio is listed as an arbitrator at the principal arbitration institutions all around the world, including among others:

• China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC)

• Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC)

• Corte Internacional de Arbitraje de Madrid (CIAM-CIAR)

• Centro de Mediación y Arbitraje Comercial de la Cámara Argentina de Comercio y Servicios (CEMARC)

• Conselho Arbitral do Estado de São Paulo (CAESP)

• British Virgin Islands Court of Arbitration (BVI)

He also serves on the:

• ICC Institute of World Business Law

• ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR

• ICC Latin American Arbitration Group

• The London Court of International Arbitration (the Company)

• Designations Committee of The Madrid International Arbitration Center (CIAM-CIAR)

He was a founder, President, and now Honorary President of the Spanish and Iberoamerican Arbitration Club, a private association created in 2005 that promotes arbitration through events held with public institutions, universities, large companies, lawyers and judges throughout western Europe, Latin America and the US. The Club has more than 1,500 members of 51 nationalities and international chapters in 31 countries.

Publications

Antonio is the author of numerous works on arbitration. For further information, please visit https://hierroarbitration.com

Clients

List of clients by industry sector:

1. Energy & Natural Resources

• Acciona

• Alfanar

• Ariana

• Capital Energy

• Cobra

• Daewoo

• Endesa

• ETESA

• FCC Energía

• Gecolsa

• General Machinery

• Glencore

• Greenalia

• Prodeco

• IBT

• IMASA

• Inveravante

• Korea National Oil

• Linde

• Naturgy

• Oriental Republic of Uruguay

• Pemex

• Petrobras

• Petroecuador

• Petroperú

• Pluspetrol

• Relianz Mining Solutions

• Republic of Argentina

• Republic of Paraguay

• Republic of El Salvador

• Schlumberger

• Sinopec

• SK Energy

• Trafigura

• Tyazhmash

• Vestas

2. Construction / Consortia & Joint Venture

• Abertis

• Acciona

• Alfanar

• Andritz

• Brookfield

• CAF

• Cobra

• FCC Construcción

• Ferrovial

• Future Pipe Holdings

• Gek Terna

• Isolux Corsán

• Itínere

• Municipality of Lima

• Odebrecht

• Republic of Armenia

• Rutas de Lima

• Sacyr

• Siemens

• Vinci

• Webuild

3. Government / National Defense

• DIANCA

• Northrop Grumman

• Republic of Venezuela

• Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems

4. Investment -Treaty Arbitration Cases

• Azteca

• Dominican Republic

• IBT

• Republic of Peru

• Santander

5. Telecommunications

• Eutelsat

• Gigas

• Hispasat

• Tele2

6. Other

BANKING & FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

• Abanca

• AIG

• Ares

• Banco Espirito Santo

• Brookfield

• Cáser

• Cerberus

• Citigroup

• Corsair

• Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos

• Gateway

• IANTE

• Kutxabank

• Liberbank

• Sabadell

• Santander

• SAREB

DISTRIBUTION

• DIA

• Eroski

• METRO

HOSPITALITY

• Meliá Hotels

• NH Hoteles

Industry Sector Expertise

Antonio’s experience as an international arbitrator covers the following business sectors and areas of law:

• Energy & Natural Resources

• Construction & Engineering

• Consortia/ Joint Ventures

• Government/ National Defence

• Investment/ International Public Law

• Telecommunications

• Competition Law

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Europe, Latin America and the United States

Languages Spoken

• Spanish (native)

• English (bilingual)

• French (bilingual)

Experience

Throughout his career, Antonio has focused on complex litigation. He began his career as a State Attorney for the Spanish government, working for the Ministries of the Treasury and Justice, and later acting as Agent for the Kingdom of Spain before the Court of Justice of the European Union. He was a Legal Advisor to the Spanish government during the negotiation of the Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on European Union).

He later joined Cuatrecasas, where he founded the arbitration and litigation practice and led it for more than 16 years. By the time Antonio left Cuatrecasas, the firm’s arbitration and litigation practice had grown from a handful of lawyers to more than 260 lawyers whose expertise covered 12 substantive areas, including International Commercial Arbitration and Investment Treaty Arbitration. From 2004 to 2008, he served as the general director of the firm.

As Head of the Arbitration Practice at Cuatrecasas, Antonio participated in more than 200 arbitrations acting primarily as a lawyer and occasionally as an arbitrator.

In 2015, Antonio established his own specialist arbitration firm, Hierro Arbitration, where he acts exclusively as an arbitrator. For a selection of outstanding cases, please visit https://hierroarbitration.com/outstanding-cases/

Over the course of his career, he has devoted a great deal of time to Academia:

• Chair of International Arbitration at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain.

• Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School in New York.

• Faculty Member of the LLM in International Transactions / International Arbitration-ADR, Centro de Estudios Garrigues-Madrid / Fordham University-New York / Universidad de Nebrija -Madrid, Spain.

• Faculty Member of the Diploma in International Business and Arbitration, Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, University of Mendoza, Argentina.

• Academic Advisor of Centro Internacional de Arbitraje de Mediación y Negociación – CIAMEN in Madrid, Spain.

• Academic Advisor of THĒMIS Magazine of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) Faculty of Law.

Education

Awards