By Mark McSherry
Manchester-headquartered international law firm DWF Group plc has agreed two new “association agreements” — with Portuguese law firm Nobre Guedes & Associados (NGA) and Spanish loss adjusting business RTS Group (RTS).
DWF said NGA is headquartered in Lisbon and “offers expertise across a range of sectors including energy & environmental, oil & gas, transport, real estate, construction and infrastructure, banking & insurance, data protection and cyber security.”
In addition to Portugal, NGA works with clients from Spain, France, the UK, Portuguese-speaking Africa and Brazil.
RTS is a loss adjusting and claims management business headquartered in Madrid.
It employs 300 people across 18 countries including Portugal and a number of countries across Latin America.
“The association with RTS is the first for DWF’s Connected Services division and will significantly bolster DWF’s global Claims Management and Adjusting (CMA) service,” said DWF.
“Already available to clients in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Canada, USA and Australia, the association will enable DWF to offer CMA services to clients in Spain, Portugal and Latin America for the first time.
“The two associations will complement one another and will strengthen DWF’s integrated offering in the Iberian region and beyond.”
DWF CEO Nigel Knowles said: “These strategic associations enhance our proposition in several important markets and support our strategy of offering integrated legal and business services to our clients on a global scale.
“These associations strengthen our capabilities in the Iberian Peninsula, but also provide a platform for us into markets across Latin America and Africa.
“We will continue to build our presence globally through acquisitions, associations and lateral hires and we are delighted to be working with these two excellent businesses.
“NGA has a great reputation in Portugal and we see a strong cultural and sector alignment with DWF.
“Our team in Spain has already worked alongside NGA on a number of projects and our positive experiences from these projects indicate the success we can achieve working more closely together.
“The association with RTS represents an important step forward for our Connected Services division, in the development of our single global claims management and adjusting platform.
“It will enable us to offer our existing and new clients adjusting services in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America for the first time.”
Luis Nobre Guedes, Managing Partner of NGA, said: “We have been looking for the opportunity to establish a relationship with a global legal business for some time and are delighted to have agreed this exclusive association with DWF.
“We believe it represents the best way for us to grow our business, expand our presence beyond Lusophone countries and offer integrated legal and business services to our clients globally, but particularly in Spain, France and the United Kingdom.
“Through our alignment with DWF, it will offer new client opportunities for us.”
Juan Uribe, Managing Director, RTS Group, said: “We are excited about our association with DWF.
“As part of our growth strategy and the need to fulfil client demand, this association will allow our services to be offered to new and existing clients across the regions that we both operate in.
“We are proud to be a working with DWF.”