Watson Farley & Williams is to launch a tax practice in Madrid with the hire of a partner from Landwell PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Tax & Legal Services in Spain.

Luis Soto is set to join the Madrid arm of Watson Farley next week, when he will become the fifth partner in the firm's Spanish office.

Soto is a domestic and international tax lawyer with a focus on tax matters relating to project finance, restructuring, renewable energy, real estate and shipping. He has been at Landwell PwC for the last 15 years.

Watson Farley Madrid head Joaquin Sales said: "We have been working in corporate and finance in Madrid for some time now using other firms when necessary for tax work, so we decided that it was time for us to launch a tax practice in the region as the next step in the development of the office.

"Our priority now is to consolidate the office and ensure everything is running smoothly, as we have made a number of hires in recent months. Our objective for the next year will be to grow further to around 15-20 lawyers depending on market demands."

The Madrid office, which opened in November 2009, currently houses 11 lawyers in total.

The news comes as a handful of associates from Herbert Smith's Bangkok office are set to join Watson Farley in the Thai capital.

Senior associate Christopher Osborne joined the firm at the start of this month with associates Veeravi Benjayati and Chai Lertvittayachaikul set to start in the coming weeks.

The departures leave Herbert Smith with 10 fee earners including two partners in Thailand.