Top 25 UK firm Osborne Clarke is launching in Miami following the hire of Samaniego Law managing partner Javier Fernández-Samaniego.

Fernández-Samaniego joins as a partner and head of the Miami office, Osborne Clarke’s third in the US, adding to its presence in San Francisco and New York. Fernández-Samaniego brings with him more than 25 years of experience in IT and data law and dispute resolution. His arrival will bolster the firm’s US and international arbitration strategies, while also adding Samaniego Law’s legal interim management service and managed services solutions expertise to complement its Osborne Clarke Solutions unit.

Joining him is Samaniego Law’s director of corporate development Maria Mescherskaya, who will take on an international development executive role.

Steve Wilson, Osborne Clarke’s US managing partner, said: “We recognise the importance of Miami as an international arbitration, tech and financial hub and we are delighted that Javier has agreed to join us. He has deep roots in Florida, LatAm and Spain and is the perfect fit to continue our growth within the US.”

Fernández-Samaniego launched Samaniego Law in 2016 in Madrid after he left Bird & Bird where he was managing partner for its Spanish office, which he helped spearhead on its opening in 2005. Prior to that he was head of the IT and communications practice at Linklaters in Madrid, and an associate at Spanish firm Cuatrecasas. He started his legal career as an in-house lawyer at Spain’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

He is registered as a foreign legal consultant at the Florida Bar, having maintained a Samaniego Law office in Miami.

He said: “Miami is the financial capital of LatAm and gateway of LatAm investments in Europe, particularly to my birthplace Madrid. Considering the excellent international footprint and structure of Osborne Clarke, its pragmatic, approachable and client-centred business culture, and its extraordinary professionals, I believe that together we can deliver a lot of value for clients across the globe.”

His arrival takes Osborne Clarke’s US headcount to 16 across a range of roles, including former UK managing partner Ray Berg, who relocated to San Francisco earlier this year in a business development capacity. The US team does’t practice US law but provides overseas advice to US clients in their time zone.


Also this month, Womble Bond Dickinson opened a Denver office, its fifth opening in the US over the past 18 months. Clifford Chance opened in Houston in June, its third US office. And Clyde & Co added a Boston office in February after absorbing local boutique Hermes Netburn O’Connor & Spearing.