Watson Farley & Williams is forming a new dispute resolution practice in Madrid just weeks after the firm launched the same practice in Paris.

The firm has hired Baker McKenzie partner Victor Mercedes to head the practice. At Baker McKenzie, he headed the litigation, white-collar, arbitration and insolvency practice in Barcelona. Prior to that, he served as a state attorney for six years, representing the Spanish Government in more than 2,000 disputes in civil, commercial, criminal and administrative courts.