Andrés Mochales is leaving his position as head of the Spanish office of international law firm Simmons & Simmons after 15 years. He is being succeeded by Eduardo Peñacoba, the head of the firm’s labor practice, a position that he will continue to hold while managing the Madrid office.

A partner of Simmons & Simmons since 2013, Peñacoba has more than 20 years of experience in labor issues as a lawyer at firms such as Baker McKenzie, Garrigues and Cuatrecasas, among others. In addition, he leads the health sciences sector for Simmons & Simmons global employment practice and is a member of the executive committee of the firm's global employment practice.

Peñacoba has a broad range of clients, from start-ups to multinational corporations, from a wide variety of sectors (financial institutions, asset management and investment funds, technology and especially the pharmaceutical industry) and his work covers all matters within in the field of labor law, including negotiations, legal proceedings at all levels of the Spanish courts, appointments and terminations of senior managers, employee benefits, pension plans and remuneration, collective bargaining and company agreements and restructuring processes business, among others.

Peñacoba is ranked as a Recommended lawyer in Leaders League’s Labor & Employment Advisory category.

Along with the change in managing director, Santiago Hurtado, the current head of restructuring and insolvency, has been appointed the national head of the firm’s litigation and arbitration practice, to replace Mochales. Hurtado joined as a partner in 2020 after almost 10 years in the private sector after having held the positions of head of the Ministry of the Presidency and technical secretary general of the Ministry of Justice.