Herbert Smith Freehills has boosted its Madrid disputes offering with the hire of a highly rated five-lawyer team.

The group is led by disputes partner David Arias, who will join the firm on 7 May alongside four litigation and arbitration lawyers from disputes boutique Arias SLP, which was founded by Arias in 2014.

Prior to founding the eponymous firm, Arias spent 16 years as a partner at Spanish firm Pérez-Llorca, where he established its dispute resolution practice. He is highly ranked in legal directories for disputes and arbitration, and is a former chair of the International Bar Association's arbitration committee.

Arias will join HSF alongside current Arias partner Luis Capiel, who will join the firm as of counsel. He joined Arias SLP in 2018 and has more than 10 years' experience practising international arbitration in Europe and Latin America.

The pair will be joined by the rest of the Arias team, which includes associates Oliver Cojo, Diego Alexandre-García and Svetlana Shelepina.

HSF's Madrid office opened almost a decade ago and currently consists of 83 lawyers, including 12 partners.

Yesterday (25 April), the firm announced its new Brussels managing partner, Kyriakos Fountoukakos. He succeeds Craig Pouncey, who is retiring after 32 years with the firm and 14 years as managing partner.

Meanwhile, the firm bolstered its New York office recently with the hire of Hogan Lovells' global employment head Barbara Roth. The veteran partner plans to build the international firm's employment practice in the US.