The office will be staffed by four Spanish lawyers, representing US clients on a range of corporate and financial issues. It is the firm’s 10th office, and fourth international outpost, following the launch of branches in Brussels in 1985, London in 2007 and Lisbon in 2009.

US clients

According to a report in The Lawyer newspaper in London, corporate specialist Rubén Ferrer will relocate from Madrid as the office’s managing partner. He commented: ‘Our Spanish clients historically account for less than half of our turnover. After this, US clients are our largest source of business. We advise a significant number of US corporations with strong presence in Spain.’
Mr Ferrer has worked in New York previously as a foreign associate at Cravath Swaine & Moore. Gómez-Acebo Pombo had intended to launch a New York office in 2001, but the plan was dropped in favour of opening in London.

Competition

The Lawyer commented that the New York development was particularly interesting given the current climate for Spanish law firms, many of which are reducing international expansion.
The launch will see Gómez-Acebo Pombo competing with the Iberian ‘big three’ law firms -- Garrigues, Uría Menéndez and Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira -- all of which have established New York bases.