Gomez-Acebo & Pombo founding partner Fernando Pombo has died at the age 68 in Madrid today (4 November).

The news comes just eight months after the Iberian firm's fellow co-founder Ignacio Gomez-Acebo passed away in March this year.

Pombo founded the Spanish firm with Gomez-Acebo in 1971 and has been the firm's president for the whole duration.

Born in Santander in 1943 as one of eight children, he left to study philosophy and law at the University of Oviedo and the Madrid Complutense in 1965.

He was an invited professor and lecturer at some of the world's top academic institutions, including Harvard University and Georgetown University, and spent 25 years in executive positions at the International Bar Association, and was handed the role of IBA president from 2007-08.

He has won a number of awards throughout his career, including La Gran Cruz del Merito en el Servicio a la Abogacia in 2005 – the highest distinction granted by the General Council of the Spanish Bar.

Pombo is survived by his wife Carmen Morales and their four children.