Maria Segura
Maria Segura is a Spanish qualified lawyer (Madrid Bar (2000) and Brussels Bar (2013)). She obtained her Master’s degree (Ll.M.Eur) at the Europa Institut of the University of Saarland (Germany) with a thesis in the field of state aid.
After a bluebook traineeship at the Legal Service of the European Commission, in 2000, she started at the Berlin office of the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. She then worked for two years for the European Commission (DG Competition, state aid unit in charge of state-owned undertakings and services).
Maria Segura joined the EFTA Surveillance Authority where she continued working on state aid matters. She was promoted to the position of Deputy Director of the Competition and State Aid Directorate responsible for state aid with a team of 18 lawyers and economists. Her team was in charge of the review of the assessment of state aid cases and the coordination with the Legal Service for the defense of the state aid decisions appealed before the European Courts.
Maria Segura is founding partner at the law firm Clayton & Segura established in 2013. In such capacity she has been advising clients in a wide range of fields such as energy, environment, taxation, sports.
She is a regular speaker in State aid conferences and contributor to the European State aid Law journal.
She has been ranked as one of the leading state aid lawyers in Chambers and Partners for several years. According to the 2021 edition of Chambers and Partners : “Maria Segura is held in high regard for her work advising clients on state aid litigation before the full range of European courts. She has experience in the state aid aspects of tax legislation, as well as in state aid issues in the energy sector”.
Marianne Clayton
Marianne Clayton is a French-qualified lawyer specialized in European Law. She is a member of the Paris Bar (1997) and of the Brussels Bar (2013).
She started her legal career by working for the Paris office of the global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus and Deringer as a member of the Corporate Law team. This experience enabled her to understand the transaction/corporate world. In 2000, she joined the Brussels office of the French law firm Bredin Prat (www.bredinprat.com) specialized in European Law where she worked on Competition law, General EU Law and State Aid cases.
In January 2006, she moved to the Competition and State Aid Directorate of the EFTA Surveillance Authority where she worked exclusively on state aid cases as a senior officer until end of 2012.
In 2013, with Maria Segura she founded the law firm Clayton & Segura which is dedicated to State aid.
The Firm
Clayton & Segura is an international law firm dedicated exclusively to the field of State aid.
As such, it advises States, regions, local authorities, state-owned undertakings, professional organizations, NGOs and companies. It intervenes in any field or sector and concerning any type of aid (grants, loans, fiscal measures, guarantees, etc…).
The firm provides advice at any stage, from the development of the first ideas and the shaping of the support to the defense of the matter before either the surveillance authorities (the European Commission or the EFTA Surveillance authority) or the European or national courts.
At EU level, the firm may also assist organizations that wish to complain before the European Commission against a competitor that has benefited from incompatible state aid. It may also represent an organisation before the European Courts (for example if it has been ordered to reimburse incompatible State aid).
