Gomez-Acebo & Pombo has lost its head of litigation and arbitration, citing client conflicts.

Miguel Angel Fernandez-Ballesteros is leaving Gomez-Acebo to set up his own independent arbitration practice, it was announced last week (22 January).

Fernandez-Ballesteros attributed his departure to conflicts with his firm's existing client base that were restricting his practice.

Gomez-Acebo dispute resolution partner Joaquin Garcia-Romanillos Valverde replace Fernandez-Ballesteros heading up the practice.

Fernandez-Ballesteros said: "My 10 years as partner at Gomez-Acebo & Pombo have been very enriching [and] it will not be easy to leave the people who have been my family during these years. However, arbitration has many increasing exigencies and objective independence is not always possible in an office with such international and national clients."

Gomez-Acebo recently called in consultancy Accenture to conduct a five-year strategy review as the firm gears up for its first formal overhaul of long-term policy.