The new El Dorado: Fieldfisher launches in Spain as Latham doubles Madrid team in 12 months

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The new El Dorado: Fieldfisher launches in Spain as Latham doubles Madrid team in 12 months

Ignored by much of the global elite until a few years ago, Spain is quickly becoming one of the hottest legal markets in continental Europe, with Latham & Watkins more than doubling its headcount in less than a year while UK challenger firm Fieldfisher delivers on its much anticipated launch.

Fieldfisher managing partner Michael Chissick announced on 25 September that the firm had completed a three-year-long search to combine with 60-lawyer firm JAUSAS. Continue reading “The new El Dorado: Fieldfisher launches in Spain as Latham doubles Madrid team in 12 months”

Spain: A changing legal landscape

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Garrigues’ Fernando Vives on the after-effects of the crisis.

Let’s take, as a starting premise, that the Spanish economy’s situation remains challenging: despite the European Commission forecasts, a shining 2.6% and 2.7% GDP growth in 2016 and 2017, Spain has yet to deal with an unemployment rate of around 20%. Clearly, we still have room to improve.

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Spain prepares for IPO surge as US firms win key mandates on Aena’s €4.3bn float

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The Spanish capital markets showed signs of improving last month as US firms Mayer Brown and Davis Polk & Wardwell won roles advising the world’s largest airport operator Aena on its €4.3bn float on the Madrid stock exchange.

The Spanish government’s disposal of its 49% stake in Aena, which operates some 47 airports worldwide, including Luton, gave the group a total equity value of up to €8.7bn. In what is the largest flotation on the Madrid stock market since the onset of the financial crisis, the value underscores the burgeoning confidence among investors about Spain’s rejuvenated capital markets and economy, and heralds a surge of new mandates for corporate and finance lawyers working in the country.

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Spanish leaders Uría and Cuatrecasas hike fees as confidence returns to battered market

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Despite Spanish M&A values dropping significantly in 2013 and amid the country’s continuing well-publicised debt crisis, two of Spain’s big four law firms have reported an uptick in turnover as a note of optimism returns to Europe’s fourth-largest jurisdiction.

Deal value in 2013 was down from $47.6bn to $32.2bn, according to mergermarket, but with a substantially improving pipeline post summer 2013, Uría Menéndez last month reported the strongest growth of the four: a 2.9% increase in revenues for 2013.

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Clyde & Co to open Madrid office with DAC Beachcroft insurance team

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Clyde & Co 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 29 locations across Europe, America and Asia.

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Clydes opens in Madrid with DAC Beachcroft insurance team

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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.

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White & Case launches in Madrid with Latham hire

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White & Case has launched its first office in Spain, recruiting Latham & Watkins’ Spanish corporate head Juan Manuel de Remedios to joint lead its new Madrid office as an executive partner.

The Spanish launch comes as the firm concentrates on strengthening its global footprint to take advantage of Spain’s strong links to Latin America.

White & Case Spanish practice head Michael Doran, who is based in London, said the Madrid launch ‘provides our clients with local knowledge coupled with access to our global network’.

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Spain: Up In The Air

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With Spain wrestling a mammoth budget deficit, the former government initially decided to sell off certain prize assets. But after ditching the eagerly awaited partial privatisation of the country’s national lottery, LB asks if Spain’s top law firms are in the mood for celebrating.

On 12 October, Spain commemorated its Fiesta Nacional – the annual national public holiday marking Christopher Columbus’s 1492 arrival in the Americas. But with Spain’s economy still struggling there seems to be little to celebrate. The country is currently grappling with a budget deficit equal to 9.2% of GDP, which led to its former government deciding to sell off certain prize assets with a view to reducing the colossal debt.

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