Garrigues launches Porto office with eight-lawyer Cuatrecasas raid

Garrigues has opened its first office in Porto, scooping eight Portuguese lawyers from rival Spanish firm Cuatrecasas.

Garrigues has invested heavily in Portugal this year. In February the firm launched a tax practice in Lisbon, hiring the entire tax team from Portuguese firm Castro Silva & Associados, and in April Garrigues absorbed the eight-lawyer Lisbon IP boutique Cabral Cunha Ferreira & Associados.

Garrigues released a statement saying: "This opening allows Garrigues to reinforce its presence in the Portuguese market and take advantage of business opportunities in Galicia, where the firm has offices in Vigo and A Coruña."

Tax specialist Miguel Reis will head the Garrigues operation, which will concentrate on tax, employment and corporate matters.

Reis worked at Arthur Andersen in the 1990s and so is familiar with Garrigues, which merged with the collapsed financial services firm in 1997.

The seven lawyers joining him in the move from Cuatrecasas will be António Pedro Braga, Rui Valente, António Maria Pimenta, Sofia Pimenta, João Velez de Lima, Armando Oliveira and João Soares de Almeida.

Garrigues now has 29 offices in total, with 24 in Spain and five international offices.

Lawyers at both Garrigues and Cuatrecasas declined to comment.