Spain’s fourth largest firm, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo (GA&P), has continued its expansion drive with the announcement that it is to absorb the Barcelona office of independent firm Rodés & Sala.

The move, which officially takes place on July 1st, will almost double the size of the local office of GA&P, with the addition also of four new partners: José Herrador, Miquel Queralt, Rafael Sala and Gonzalo Rodés – the latter joining the firm’s Barcelona Management Board.

The merger is the second in Barcelona for GA&P in six months, January saw the firm absorb local 18-lawyer finance and tax boutique Padrol Munté, founded in 2000 by Heribert Padrol Munté. With the latest merger the firm is now among the top ten firms in Barcelona by size.

Rodés & Sala was founded in 1994 by Gonzalo Rodés, formerly with Cuatrecasas, and Rafael Sala, previously with Deloitte & Touche. The firm numbers 22 lawyers and economists in Barcelona. Notably however the firm’s four lawyer Madrid office will not join GA&P, where it says its needs are already well covered.

The merger brings to an end a testing year for Rodés & Sala, which last summer saw the departure of five of the firm’s 11 partners.

Madrid-based partners Juan Milagro, Teresa Martín and Fernando Marín along with a team of associates left to launch their own firm, Mavens. Additionally Barcelona-based partners Tomás Fornesa and Jaime Fernández, along with a third partner, from the local office of Baker & McKenzie, left to launch their own firm.

The remaining Rodés & Sala team was reported to have been in merger negotiations with Landwell earlier this year, a claim denied by the firm at the time. It is not yet known how the merger will affect the firm's relationship with its established UK referral partner Nabarro.

The merger brings the number of lawyers at GA&P in Spain to around 320 including 49 partners. Last year the firm recorded revenues of €61.1m, and in May the firm’s managing partner Manuel Martín revealed to Iberian Lawyer that it had accumulated an equity of nearly €14m to help face the global economic crisis and to fund continuing growth – a Lisbon launch is expected in the coming months, say lawyers there.