Osborne Clarke strengthens Real Estate in Madrid with Guillermo Rodrigo and a team from Baker McKenzie

Osborne Clarke has hired Guillermo Rodrigo as partner of its Real Estate practice in Madrid. He does not arrive alone: Paloma Alcón joins as counsel, and Lucía García Ovies and Jaime Armijo as associates. All four come from Baker McKenzie, where they worked together for much of their careers.

The move, reported by Lawyerpress on 16 October, is part of the international firm's growth strategy in the Spanish capital and its push to expand its advisory capacity in real estate transactions in Spain. The new team will develop the practice in coordination with the Barcelona team led by Julián Matos.

Who is who in the hire

Guillermo Rodrigo has more than 25 years of professional experience in the real estate sector, during which he has taken part in transactions and projects of different kinds. Paloma Alcón brings a 15-year track record specialising in this practice. García Ovies and Armijo complete the team with experience in transactions and projects requiring specialist legal advice.

For Osborne Clarke, hiring an already-formed team has a clear advantage: the four lawyers share a consolidated working methodology and joint experience advising investors, developers and operators in the real estate market. It is the same pattern seen in other recent market moves, such as the launch of Marest Law by Marlen Estévez after leaving RocaJunyent, where the new firm was born with a team and clients already in place.

What the parties say

"We are joining Osborne Clarke with great enthusiasm and with the conviction that there is a great opportunity to keep developing the firm's real estate and transactional practice," Guillermo Rodrigo said in the press release, highlighting that the project combines the firm's international track record with growth in Madrid and collaboration between offices.

Miguel Lorán and Jordi Casas, co-managing partners of Osborne Clarke Spain, consider that the team's arrival "is part of Osborne Clarke's strategic plan and strengthens our commitment to growth in Madrid and to developing the real estate practice in Spain advising our national and international clients."

Osborne Clarke has an international network of 26 offices, more than 1,340 lawyers and more than 350 partners. Its main practice areas include real estate and infrastructure, energy, financial services, technology and life sciences.

A busy October in the lateral market

Rodrigo's move is not Osborne Clarke's only one this month. On 13 October the firm announced the hire of Ana Castedo as partner to lead the growth of its industrial and intellectual property litigation practice, also according to Lawyerpress. Two senior hires in less than a week point to a determined push by the firm in the Spanish market.

In the same period, Andersen strengthened its Tax practice with the hire of Ignacio Ruiz as partner, El Confidencial reported, in a particularly active week for the partner market in Spanish law firms. We follow these moves in our Big law firms and lateral hires section.

Block hires of entire teams say a lot about the moment the sector is living through: firms compete for transactional practices with a client base and for teams that already work, rather than growing lawyer by lawyer. For professionals weighing a change, these moves often open new vacancies at both the origin and destination firms; we collect the most relevant ones in our daily selection of legal job offers.

What comes next

The team's incorporation takes effect in the Madrid office, from where the real estate practice will coordinate with Barcelona. There is no public information so far on the specific transactions the new team will take on, nor on the final composition of Baker McKenzie's Real Estate practice after the departure.

At Agente Lex we only publish hires confirmed by the firm or by specialist media citing the official press release. The photo in this article comes from the press release issued by Osborne Clarke and published by Lawyerpress; no photographer credit was given. Firms can announce a hire through the Send us your news form.