Spanish firm partners to leave after leading Garrigues for a decade

Spanish giant Garrigues is preparing for a management shake-up, with co-managing partners Miguel Gordillo and Jose Maria Alonso set to step down later this year after nearly a decade at the helm.

The firm is taking soundings from the partnership about potential successors and is expected to appoint two new leaders at a partner meeting to be held in the coming weeks.

No formal nominations have yet been made; however, head of tax Ricardo Gomez and corporate and M&A head Fernando Vives have both been cited as early favourites to take over the leadership at Spain's largest law firm.

Gordillo and Alonso were appointed co-managing partners of Garrigues in September 2000 and will step down on 1 September this year.

The pair have overseen a number of international developments at the firm, including a merger in October 2008 with 33-lawyer Canary Islands-based Llorens and a launch in Tangiers earlier this year.

Garrigues is currently in the market for a Brazilian alliance firm after Barbosa Muessnich & Arago pulled out of its network of South American 'best friend' firms, known as Affinitas, earlier this year. It is thought the firm is also considering opening its own office in Brazil.

Garrigues, which has a financial year ending in August, saw 15% growth in revenues during 2007-08, with turnover standing at E296.8m (£253m).

Garrigues' news emerged as Lovells made its first partner hire for its Spanish employment law practice. Luis Enrique de la Villa, who joined earlier this week (1 July) with one associate from boutique Bufete de la Villa, will head Lovells' Madrid employment practice. The hires take the practice to five lawyers in total.

Lovells head of employment Thomas Ubber said: "Current economic conditions have increased the demand for employment work in a number of areas, including restructuring, negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, employment disputes and redundancy programmes."