Press Release

Garrigues, the greatest law firm in Iberian Peninsula, has opened a new office in Bucharest (Romania) as a new step towards establishing its presence in other Central and Eastern European countries, following the opening last year of its Warsaw office (Poland).

The venture involves the integration into Garrigues of the Romanian law firm “Mares & Asociatii SCA” which has been counselling top Spanish and other foreing investors in Romania for five years. The Romanian law firm is well known for its cross-border experience in energy & infrastructure work, financial institutions and real estate.

Name partner and founder of Mares & Asociatii SCA, Mihai Mares will be joining Garrigues worldwide, as partner, after ratification at the upcoming Partners’ Meeting.

Mihai Mares will manage the office of Garrigues in Romania alongside with Jaime Fúster – Garrigues CEE Managing Partner – and will also act as head of the Banking & Finance department in this office.

The new Bucharest office will field an initial team of ten lawyers, covering practically all practice areas: Financial Services and Banking; Real Estate, Construction and Infrastructure; Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions; Labour and Employment; Litigation/Arbitration and Tax.

The opening of this office is a natural consequence of Garrigues’ attitude to economic globalization and client-centric approach. Just a few years ago, Spain and Portugal were basically destinations for investment, with the exception of capital invested in Latin America, but the situation is changing rapidly. After heavily backing the Latin American market through the Affinitas alliance with top firms in major Latinamerican countries, Garrigues has set its sights on other areas increasingly targeted by European investors. This new phase in its strategy commenced with the opening of its offices in Shanghai and Casablanca and continued with the Warsaw opening and now Bucharest as a reinforcement of Garrigues’ commitment to Central and Eastern Europe.

As Jaime Fúster, the partner responsible for Garrigues’ expansion in the region sees it, “The core idea is to be able to offer our clients a comprehensive service throughout Central and Eastern Europe”.

Garrigues’ network boasts 27 offices in the Iberian Peninsula with another seven offices in Brussels, Bucharest, Casablanca, London, New York, Shanghai and Warsaw.

International leader

Garrigues, founded in 1941, is the top legal services firm in the Iberian Peninsula, in terms of billings (€256.8 million in 2007). Through a great team of multidisciplinary experts, it offers local and international integrated tax and legal services to its clients.