Profile
Álvaro López de Argumedo joined Uría Menéndez in 1992 and has been a partner in the Madrid office of Uría Menéndez since 2003.
He focuses his practice on domestic and international arbitration, domestic and international civil litigation and mediation. He has considerable experience in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards, as well as in interim measures in judicial and arbitration proceedings.
He is an arbitrator at the Madrid Arbitration Court, the Madrid Bar Association Arbitration Court (Corte de Arbitraje del Colegio de Abogados de Madrid), the Spanish Court of Arbitration (Corte Española de Arbitraje), the Civil and Commercial Arbitration Court (Corte Civil y Mercantil de Arbitraje –CIMA–) and the Centre of Arbitration of the Lima Chamber of Commerce. He is currently Court member of the London Court of International Arbitration. Furthermore, Álvaro is Vicepresident of the Spanish and Iberoamerican Arbitration Club (Club Español e Iberoamericano del Arbitraje), President of its Dispute Boards Commission and sits on its Mediation Committee. He is also President of the Steering Committee of the UIA (Union Internationale des Avocats) Arbitration Commission. Álvaro is a CEDR (Effective Dispute Resolution) accredited mediator and Academic Coordinator of the FIDE Mediation Club. Álvaro has recently been appointed to the “Comisión Consultiva para el estudio de los ADR” (ADR Studies Commission) of the Madrid Center for Business Mediation (Centro de Mediación Empresarial de Madrid CMEM ).
Álvaro was an officer of the IBA Arbitration Committee from 2017 to 2019. He has also served as chair of the Arbitration Guidelines and Rules Subcommittee and co-chair of the IBA Task Force for the revision of the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration. He was appointed "stakeholder expert" to prepare the Common Frame of Reference by the European Commission, as part of the European Civil Code project.
Álvaro regularly represents clients in national and international arbitration proceedings, mostly in complex corporate matters. He has taken part in over 60 international and domestic arbitration proceedings before the main international arbitration institutions (such as the ICC Court of Arbitration, the London Court of International Arbitration and the Swiss courts) and the leading Spanish institutions (such as the Civil and Commercial Arbitration Court –CIMA– and the Madrid Arbitration Court), as well as ad hoc arbitrations.
Many international legal directories, such as Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, Who's Who Legal (arbitration and construction), Best Lawyers and Guide to the World's Leading Commercial Arbitration Experts, have named him a leading lawyer. Chambers 2015 described Álvaro as "Exceptional. He is absolutely certain of what he is doing in each moment. He dominates the courtroom". According to Chambers Europe 2021, one satisfied client characterizes Álvaro as "very committed, with high attention to detail".
Education
- Law Degree, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1991
- Ph.D. candidate, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Litigation Department)
Professional associations
- Madrid Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados de Madrid)
- Madrid Bar Association Arbitration Court (Corte de Arbitraje del Colegio de Abogados de Madrid)
- Spanish Court of Arbitration (Corte Española de Arbitraje de la Cámara de Comercio e Industria de Madrid)
- Member of the Governing Board of the Spanish and Iberoamerican Arbitration (Club Español e Iberoamericano del Arbitraje)
- Member of the Arbitration Committee of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA)
- Civil and Commercial Arbitration Court (Corte Civil y Mercantil de Arbitraje –CIMA–)
- Court Member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
- International Bar Association (IBA)
- Ibero-American Court of Arbitration (Corte Iberoamericana de Arbitraje)
- Centre of Arbitration of the Lima Chamber of Commerce
- FIDE Mediation Centre (Centro de Mediación FIDE)
- Club FIDE/CEDR
- Registry of Mediators of the Ministry of Justice of Spain (Registro de Mediadores del Ministerio de Justicia)
Teaching activity
Álvaro has lectured in the Advanced Programme in Arbitration Practice at the Instituto de Empresa and in the Master's in Private Law and Master's in Access to the Spanish Legal Profession at the Madrid Bar Association. He is also a course lecturer in the Master's in Business Legal Practice at the Centro de Estudios Garrigues.
He frequently participates as a speaker at conferences and seminars pertaining to his areas of expertise and has published several articles on these areas of law, both in Spain and abroad.