Dentons has launched an office in Milan, its first in Italy, with the hire of 21 lawyers, including three partners from DLA Piper, and two partners from local employment law boutique hELP.
Leading the team from DLA is the firm’s former managing director for Europe and Africa Federico Sutti, who also previously served as Italy managing partner for more than 16 years.
He joins DLA partners energy lawyer Matteo Falcione and real estate expert Federico Vanetti, as well as corporate specialist senior associate Pier Francesco Faggiano and senior counsel Maria Sole Insinga who have been made up to partner.
Partners Aldo Calza and Iacopo Aliverti Piuri are also joining from employment law boutique hELP, which was founded by Calza after leaving DLA.
This year has seen Dentons embark on major expansion, including in Budapest in April with the hire of White & Case partners István Réczicza, Rob Irving and Edward Keller who joined alongside some 50 lawyers and other legal professionals.
It also announced a combination with Chinese firm Dacheng in January, a deal which will establish a 6,600 lawyer giant operating under a Swiss verein structure, and moved to bolster its US capabilities through a tie-up with Atlanta-based McKenna Long & Aldridge.
On its foray into Italy, Europe CEO Tomasz Dąbrowski said: ‘Italy is one of the key markets under our growth strategy for Europe. We are very pleased to welcome such a high quality team to the Firm and look forward to working with Federico Sutti and new colleagues in order to achieve our objective of becoming one of the leading full service international practices in the country.’
Evan Lazar, chair of the firm’s Europe board, said: ‘We continue to make strategic and important growth moves across the Europe region, where we see a significant and growing amount of cross-border work. With many clients seeking counsel with a meaningful presence in Italy, we are very pleased to be able to offer them this leading team of real estate, energy and employment lawyers from day one.’
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk