EY Abogados hires Manuel Esclapez from PwC Tax & Legal as Tax Litigation partner

EY Abogados strengthens its Tax department with the incorporation of Manuel Esclapez as Tax Litigation partner, El Confidencial reports. The lawyer leaves PwC Tax & Legal after a 22-year career at the firm, where he worked as a director, and arrives accompanied by a team of three professionals: Jose Maria Marin, with the rank of manager, and Alicia Lopez and Jorge Espinosa, both senior associates.

The hire takes place at the firm led by Adolfo Zunzunegui and marks the move of a long-track executive from one big four to another, a type of movement that is uncommon at partner level and underlines the aggressiveness with which the major advisory firms compete for tax specialists with a consolidated client base.

Esclapez specialises in local and regional taxation. During his more than two decades at PwC he created and led the local taxation and cadastre advisory area and ran the tax procedure practice in the Levante region of the big four. His track record includes advising large companies in sectors such as real estate, telecommunications, industry, transport and logistics, automotive, energy and hospitality, as well as public sector entities.

Academic and doctrinal profile

A law graduate from the University of Alicante with a master's in Tax Advice from the Centro de Estudios Financieros (CEF), the new partner coordinates the expert group on Local Treasuries and Cadastre of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisers (AEDAF), has taken part in research projects on local taxation and teaches at institutions such as the University of Alicante, Universidad San Pablo CEU, the CEF and UNIR.

That academic profile is not incidental. In specialised tax areas, presence in doctrinal forums - AEDAF is the main one in Spanish tax advice - works as a channel of technical updating and as a credibility factor before clients and before the tax administration itself. Coordinating the expert group on Local Treasuries and Cadastre places the new partner at the centre of the technical debate on municipal taxation, precisely the terrain of his specialty.

EY Abogados' strategy

Adolfo Zunzunegui, managing partner of EY Abogados, highlights that the arrival of the new team "significantly strengthens" the firm's capabilities in local and regional taxation, an area that demands increasingly specialised technical knowledge and in which the firm aspires to have the market's reference team. Esclapez, for his part, describes his incorporation as an opportunity to keep growing alongside a top-level team.

The hire fits into a period of sustained growth at the firm. In recent months, EY Abogados has incorporated Nicolas Sierra, from A&O Shearman, as Corporate M&A partner; Puy Abril, from Labormatters, to reinforce Labour; and Francisco Soler Caballero, Javier Bustillo and Jaime Aguilar in the Corporate area. The firm closed its last financial year with revenue of 233.1 million euros in Spain and has set itself the target of reaching 350 million in 2029.

The combined reading of these moves points to a strategy of growth by practice area: simultaneous reinforcements in Corporate, Labour and now Tax, the three legs sustaining the offer of a full-service business advisory firm. The declared 2029 revenue target implies growth of around 50 per cent over the current figure, a goal only reachable through hires of teams with their own client base like the one now announced.

What the team brings to the tax litigation practice

The hire covers a combination of profiles that defines current demand in the area well: a partner with more than two decades of experience in tax advice, contentious-tax proceedings and inspections; a manager with a consolidated track record; and two senior associates who secure the team's execution capacity. Block hires of this type transfer not only technical knowledge but also work methodology and trust relationships built with clients over years, which explains why they remain the preferred route to rapid growth in specialised areas.

Esclapez's specialty - local and regional taxation - is also one of the few tax areas with structurally growing demand: each autonomous community has been deploying its own catalogue of devolved and own taxes, councils sustain a relevant part of their financing on local taxation and the cadastre has become a central technical piece of real estate valuation with direct fiscal effects. Advising on that terrain requires knowing simultaneously state, regional and foral rules, as well as the management and inspection practice of each administration.

A tax market in motion

Local and regional taxation has become one of the most contested terrains of Spanish tax practice. The proliferation of the autonomous communities' own taxes, growing litigation around capital gains and municipal charges and the weight of inspection and contentious proceedings feed a stable demand for specialised advice. In that context, hires of partners with their own portfolio and team have become the main growth lever of the large firms, as other recent moves also show, from the incorporation of Natalia Gomez de Enterria at Ilia in Mallorca to the insolvency reinforcement at Bergada Abogados.

For the legal big four, the fight for tax talent also takes place in a market where traditional law firms compete for the same profiles. The arrival of Esclapez and his team consolidates EY Abogados' offer in tax litigation, an area combining management and inspection proceedings with high-value economic-administrative and contentious lawsuits.

The move also has a territorial reading. The practice of local taxation is largely played out in provincial capitals and before regional economic-administrative and contentious courts, which requires a network of professionals with knowledge of the terrain and not just a large central headquarters. Teams like the one arriving from the Levante region bring precisely that capillarity, an asset difficult to build organically and one that justifies the premium the market pays for consolidated team hires.

The move also involves a category jump for Esclapez himself: at PwC Tax & Legal he worked as a director and at EY Abogados he enters directly with partner status. For long-track lawyers at the major advisory firms, that jump is often the real promotion route when partnership at the home firm appears slow or saturated, and it explains much of the talent transfer between the big four: the opportunity to reach partnership with an already cohesive team of one's own.

Esclapez's departure from PwC comes at a time of intense activity in the legal-services market, with open regulatory fronts such as the Second Chance Law before the CJEU.

Frequently asked questions

What position will Manuel Esclapez hold at EY Abogados?

He will be a Tax Litigation partner within the Tax department of the firm led by Adolfo Zunzunegui.

Where does he come from?

From PwC Tax & Legal, where he spent a 22-year career since 2004, specialising in local and regional taxation and leading the tax procedure practice in Levante.

Is he coming with a team?

Yes, Jose Maria Marin (manager) and Alicia Lopez and Jorge Espinosa (senior associates) join with him.

What other recent hires has EY Abogados made?

Nicolas Sierra (Corporate M&A, from A&O Shearman), Puy Abril (Labour, from Labormatters) and Francisco Soler Caballero, Javier Bustillo and Jaime Aguilar (Corporate), according to the published report.

What is the size of the firm?

EY Abogados closed its last reported year with 233.1 million euros of revenue in Spain and has announced the target of reaching 350 million in 2029.

Sources

• El Confidencial, "EY Abogados ficha a Manuel Esclapez, de PwC Tax & Legal, para reforzar Fiscal", 10 November 2026 (consulted on 10 November 2026).