Picón heads three-partner DLA Piper team joining Latham & Watkins

DLA Piper’s senior partner and global co-chairman, Madrid-based Juan Picón, heads a team of three partners that have left the firm to join Latham & Watkins.

Picón has quit the firm along with fellow DLA Piper partners Ignacio Gómez-Sancha and José Antonio Sánchez-Dafos to join Latham & Watkins’ Madrid office.

Picón joined DLA Piper in 2006 and was appointed senior partner and global co-chairman in March last year.

He will become managing partner of Latham & Watkins in Spain, taking over from Jose Luis Blanco. A spokeswoman for Latham & Watkins said: “Jose Luis [Blanco] has announced he is retiring from Latham & Watkins at the end of this year to re-focus his professional career in other projects not related to any other legal firm.”

Picón, Gómez-Sancha and Sánchez-Dafos’ expertise includes advising on M&A, venture capital deals, joint ventures, capital markets, restructuring, and financial regulation.

Latham & Watkins chair and managing partner Bill Voge said: “The market knowledge of the three new partners and their contacts are unbeatable – Spain is a key market with interesting opportunities in our global platform.”