Top two Spanish firm Cuatrecasas has signed an integration agreement with Portuguese firm Serra Lopes, Cortes Martins & Associado (SLCM), with the Barcelona-based firm absorbing SLCM within its Lisbon office.

The deal will see 250 SCLM professionals move across to the Spanish firm, including its partners and a supporting cast of counsel, associates and other staff. SLCM’s website lists 10 partners, including current managing partner Luís Cortes Martins, who will become senior partner of Cuatrecasas’ Portuguese business when the integration completes at the start of next year.

Nuno Sá Carvalho, managing partner of Cuatrecasas in Portugal, said the integration “is good news for the clients of Cuatrecasas who will now have access to a larger team of excellent professionals, and is good news for SLCM’s clients because, from now on, they can enjoy the benefits of a service with greater scope through our international network.”

SLCM’s other partners include competition lawyer Miguel Pena Machete; litigation head Maria Raquel Moreira; corporate and M&A lawyers Rafael Lucas Pires and Martim Anahory; and employment specialist Inês Pinheiro.

Cortes Martins said: “The integration of the two teams will enable us to expand on and be more efficient in the provision of services to our clients, while maintaining the characteristic distinction of both firms of having built two of the most respected and renowned legal practices in Portugal,” adding that the integration is a milestone in the consolidation of Portugal’s legal market.

Cuatrecasas has two offices in Portugal – its main base in Lisbon, home to 130 lawyers, and a smaller satellite office in Porto that has around 25 professionals.

Last month, Cuatrecasas made a series of new hires, including white collar crime partner Judit Gené in Barcelona. It also hired commercial real estate partner Sergio Agüera from Pérez-Llorca, also in Barcelona, and financial services and insurance partner Ruth Duque from DWF-RCD in Madrid.

The firm also expanded its Latin America business back in July with a double partner hire in Peru and Mexico. Diego Carrión joined the Spanish firm’s M&A practice in Lima from Peruvian firm Hernandez & Cía, while former KPMG partner Juan David Mina joined the firm’s tax practice in Mexico City.