Garrigues continued its global expansion by hiring its first English-qualified partner in the City with the arrival of Winston & Strawn’s co-head of international arbitration, Joe Tirado, to start an arbitration practice. The launch comes in the same month the firm added Chile to its Latin American network.
Tirado will become co-head of international arbitration as the firm seeks to provide a London hub for disputes in Latin America, where alternative dispute resolution has become commonplace following a series of investor-state disputes stemming from the nationalisation of energy assets across the continent in the 1990s. Tirado becomes the second lawyer in Garrigues’ London office, alongside corporate lawyer Ignacio Corbera Dale.
Garrigues, which is regarded as one of Spain’s leading firms alongside Uría Menéndez, has 20 offices across the Iberia region but is underweight in the rest of Europe. Tirado, who was head of international arbitration at Norton Rose before joining Winston & Strawn in 2012, arrives as part of a wider play for Latin American disputes.
A Spanish speaker, Tirado’s practice is largely centred on Latin American disputes and provides a City bridge to Garrigues’ expansion with large numbers of corporate contracts referring disputes to the London Court of International Arbitration. Tirado, a solicitor-advocate with full rights of audience before all English civil courts, will lead the international arbitration practice alongside Madrid-based Carlos de los Santos.
‘My arrival builds on the mergers Garrigues has recently done in Latin America, while also assisting the push in the Middle East and Asia, which are predominantly users of English law,’ said Tirado.
Santos added: ‘As a highly experienced practitioner and a fluent Spanish speaker, Joe bridges the cultural divide between the common law and civil law traditions perfectly.’
The firm also announced a Chile launch in March through the addition of Avendaño Merino to create its fifth office in the region, with outposts already established in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The deal made Garrigues the European firm with the largest number of offices in Latin America, and already the firm is said to be eyeing up Argentina. Garrigues decided to go it alone in 2013 when it pulled the plug on its Latin American alliance. It has seen rapid expansion, with the Chile launch coming less than six months after sealing a tie-up with 40-lawyer Colombian outfit De la Calle, Londoño, López y Posada.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk