Manchado, head of the Linklaters’ M&A practice in Spain, said of Albella’s return: “The addition of Sebastián puts our practice in an unrivaled position to advise listed and public companies on the biggest M&A transactions in the market.”

Earlier in his career, Albella worked as a state attorney in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as the CNMV’s secretary of the board and director of legal services, and also as a partner at Ramón y Cajal Abogados, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Albella is one of several Linklaters alumni who have rejoined the firm over the past year. In Hong Kong, Betty Yap returned to Linklaters’ corporate practice from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Singapore, and Carl Fernandes rejoined the firm’s financial regulation practice from Latham & Watkins.

However, his move back to the firm comes shortly after Linklaters lost M&A partner Alejandro Ortiz to Latham. Ortiz had been a private equity and M&A partner at Linklaters for more than two decades.