Lourdes Catrain

As a partner in the Trade practice, Lourdes Catrain has achieved milestone successes for clients on all areas of EU trade law and economic sanctions. These include: the completion on behalf of a sovereign government of FTA negotiations with the EU; judicial delisting of an entity from the EU Iran Sanctions; the termination of an anti-subsidy investigation on behalf of the Government of Indonesia; a series of voluntary disclosures in various EU jurisdictions on breaches of economic sanctions and export control laws; advice on a customs valuation which resulted in the continued reliance on the favourable first sale rule for a large life sciences global company. In the EU's largest trade dispute with China, solar panels, she represents the interests of a key EU upstream supplier which forcefully opposes the continuation of measures against imports from China.

Lourdes led the foreign investment filings related to EUR 12.3bn acquisition by GE of Alstom's energy activities. Alstom relied on Lourdes' expertise on complex foreign investment regimes involving multiple jurisdictions and the Firm's unique ability to provide a "one-stop shop" for all the key jurisdictions subject to foreign investment approval.

She regularly advises companies on complex business dealings with countries subject to EU sanctions and together with the anti-corruption and white collar crime teams conducts internal investigation and prepares voluntary disclosures to the Member State authorities.

She has drafted compliance manuals for companies in the energy, consumer electronics, retail and luxury brands sectors followed by regular training sessions.

She is a pan-European team player and leads a trade controls, sanctions and customs team well beyond Brussels with colleagues from Amsterdam, London, Madrid, Moscow, Munich, Paris and Rome offices.