Clyde & Co yesterday (16 April) confirmed it is to open a Madrid office following the appointment of a four-partner insurance team from DAC Beachcroft’s local office.
The team of nine lawyers, including insurance partners Ignacio Figuerol, Ricardo Garrido, Pablo Guillen and Miguel Relano, have resigned to establish the office for Clyde & Co, extending the firm’s international footprint to 18 locations across Europe, America and Asia.
The four partners are widely considered heavyweights in a firm thought to be a market leader in insurance law in the area. Figuerol also sits on the DAC Beachcroft management board.
The terms of the departures, including timings, are currently under discussion but DAC Beachcroft says that it will continue to provide a full-service insurance offering to the market in Spain under the leadership of Paulino Fajardo, Enrique Gich and Pablo Wesolowski.
The move to open in Madrid further reflects Clydes’ intention, since its merger with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in 2011, to spread further internationally.
Last summer, the firm became the first to open in post-Gaddafi Libya after it recruited Libyan Investment Authority general counsel Abudery Shariha. In the same period it announced that it was to launch in Sydney and Perth with an eight-strong team hire from Australian heavyweight Allens, while in February this year Clydes announced its intention to form an alliance with an Indonesian firm.
James Burns, senior partner elect at Clyde & Co, said: ‘The DAC Beachcroft office in Madrid has had an excellent reputation for many years. We have known and worked with the partners there for a long time and are very pleased that we are now in a position to establish a Madrid presence with lawyers of the calibre of Ignacio, Ricardo, Pablo and Miguel.’
Paul Murray, managing partner of DAC Beachcroft, said: ‘Although we are obviously disappointed they have made this decision, DAC Beachcroft continues to be the leading insurance practice in Spain. DAC Beachcroft’s 60-strong team in Madrid will continue to serve its clients across all lines of work and we remain absolutely committed to investing in the development of the Spanish office and continuing to create a Latin American platform.’
Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC) established the Madrid office in 1989 and merged with Beachcroft in 2011, attracted by its Latin America group. Since then it has forged alliances internationally, most recently with an alliance with Colombian firm De La Torre & Monroy and Malaysia’s Gan Partnership.
Just last month US firm White & Case opened in Madrid following the appointment of Latham & Watkins’ corporate head in the country, Juan Manuel De Remedios.
francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk