Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has closed its Barcelona office after the last two of the firm's lawyers left to set up their own boutique firm.

Counsel Sergio Miralles and associate Elena Molina exited to run Intangibles, a new firm focused on intellectual property and IT law.

The firm confirmed that IP and IT work carried out by Miralles and Molina will transition to the new boutique firm.

A Freshfields spokesperson commented: "Our strategy is focused on supporting our clients on the mandates that matter most to them wherever in the world they need us, rather than just in the places where we have a physical office.

"We've therefore always run our Spanish practice as one, not as separate Madrid and Barcelona practices, so there will be no impact on our ability to support our network clients in Spain or our Barcelona-based clients wherever in the world they need us."

The Barcelona office is no longer listed on the firm's website, leaving one remaining Spanish base for Freshfields in Madrid, which opened in 1991. The Barcelona office opened three years later, in 1994.

News of the closure comes after the firm's former managing partner in Barcelona, Toni Valverde, left for Allen & Overy in February.

Following Valverde's departure, the only other partner in the Barcelona office was tax partner Miguel Loran, who departed to Osborne Clarke earlier this year. Freshfields opted to close the office once the last partners left, with the remaining few staff being rolled into Madrid.

In the late 1990s, Freshfields had more than 50 fee earners spread across its two Spanish offices – including eight partners – after merging with Madrid firm Hervada & Klingenberg in 1998.

In 2002, Freshfields elected to double its office space in Barcelona, and moved in to a 1,000 sq m new development the following year. The firm now has 11 partners in Madrid and 117 staff.