The Madrid managing partner of Nabarro's former Spanish ally Rodes & Sala has left to join a local firm.

Julio Veloso, who specialises in corporate work, has joined Broseta along with tax partner Javier Morera and two associates from Rodes & Sala's Madrid office.

Veloso will now head the private equity and venture capital team at Broseta – which has offices in Valencia and Madrid – alongside Morera.

Before joining Rodes & Sala, Veloso co-headed the launch of SJ Berwin's 1999 Spain launch and was the UK firm's Madrid office chief before leaving to form his own boutique in 2003. He joined Rodes & Sala in 2005 as head of corporate finance.

Rodes & Sala entered into an alliance agreement with Nabarro in March 2008, but the alliance ended in July this year, when the firm merged with Spanish rival Gomez-Acebo & Pombo. At the time, Nabarro said that its hoped to continue to work with Rodes & Sala lawyers at Gomez-Acebo on a non-exclusive basis.

Commenting on the move to Broseta, Veloso said: "We wanted to be part of a larger firm after our Barcelona partners joined Gomez-Acebo, and joining Broseta presented the ideal opportunity for us."

Rodes & Sala became the fifth member of Nabarro's European referral network when it joined along with Italian firm Nunziante Magrone last year. However, the Spanish firm since lost a large number of lawyers which forced it to look at options for rebuilding.

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