José Miguel Alcolea

José Miguel Alcolea Cantos joined Garrigues as partner in the litigation and arbitration department in July 2016, after more than twenty years of professional practice in both the private and public sectors.

Jose Miguel boasts extensive experience in providing legal advice to large corporations, mainly in the energy sector and the field of business law and corporate legal representation. Among several other personal acknowledgements, he was featured in The Legal 500’s Iberia GC Power List in May 2016 and Iberian Lawyer in 2009. He has also received collective recognition, such as from ESADE in 2008 and Forbes in 2015, both of which were awarded to Iberdrola’s Legal Services for best in-house legal department.

He also has notable experience as a lawyer in the public sector in Spain, particularly in financial and insurance supervision, competition law, and tax law, as well as representing public administration before the courts.

From February 2004 up until joining Garrigues, José Miguel was director of business legal services at Iberdrola. In this role, he was responsible for leading the provision of legal advice to Iberdrola Group companies in all the countries where they operate and have significant presence in the energy sector (electricity and gas), particularly in Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. This position also meant he was responsible for the legal defence of all Iberdrola Group companies at court in the various applicable jurisdictions. He also represented the group before sectorial regulators and before the institutions and bodies of the European Union, as well as in arbitration, commercial, and investment proceedings.

During this period, he was responsible for the implementation of the Iberdrola Group’s corporate structure, governance, and compliance, ensuring the effective integration and consolidation of all the companies and the best possible legal defence, all of which were undertaken as part of the Iberdrola’s international expansion process. The most notable milestones of this expansion were the acquisitions of Scottish Power (one of the ‘Big Six’ in the energy sector in the UK) in 2007; US-based Energy East (now Avangrid), in 2008; and Brazilian power distributor Elektro, in 2011.

He was a member of the board Scottish Power Ltd, the parent company of the Scottish Power Group, from April 2007 to June 2016. He was also on the board of several Iberdrola subsidiaries with significant operations in Spain, the US, and other countries: Iberdrola USA, Inc.; Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción, SA; Central Maine Power Company; Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation; New York State Electricity and Gas Corporation; Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation; and The Berkshire Gas Company. He was also a member of the board of directors of Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica, SA, a Spanish listed company, from April 2008 to November 2011; and secretary to the board of directors of Desafío Español 2007, SA, the company set up to coordinate the successful Spanish team that participated in the 2007 America’s Cup.

Prior to joining Iberdrola, he amassed extensive experience in the public sector, from 1996 to 2004. He served as chief attorney for the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, as well as holding several other positions within government legal services, including as chief legal counsel of the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds; as member of the Central Legal Service of the State Tax Agency; as secretary of the Regional Economic-Administrative Court of Catalonia; and as state attorney at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.

During his time in the public sector, he was secretary to the board of directors of Agencia EFE, SA and a member of the board of directors of various public entities (Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, CLEA, and SEIASA).

José Miguel has lectured on a number of programmes and at various institutions, including Menéndez Pelayo International University, San Pablo CEU University, IE University, Centro Internacional de Formación Financiera (CIFF), Club Español de la Energía (Enerclub), Fundación Torre del Clavero, Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (IEB), Fundación Carolina, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IEF), Autonomous University of Barcelona School of Legal Practice, and Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública (INAP). He also sat on the ESADE Law School Professional Council, representing Iberdrola.

He has been a member of the State Attorneys’ Corps since March 1996 and has been a corresponding academician of the Spanish Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation since September 2014.