Our Euro Elite report in 2021 noted how the Italian legal landscape, dominated by independent law firms, had been more resilient to the pandemic than initially predicted. A year later, with the global crisis still not over, the verdict still holds true. With its consistently healthy market, Italy’s future outlook remains positive.
Italian law firms across the board saw their turnover increase by an average of 4% in 2020 compared to the previous year. Looking at the firms with the highest turnover, only 10% registered a decline, while 20% were able to maintain the same revenues. Meanwhile, a striking 70% reported growth of varying degrees – from feeble to impressive. Within this group are, on the one hand, international firms with a strong Italian presence that were able to consolidate their position and, on the other, independent Italian players including Legance, Chiomenti and Advant Nctm, while multi-practice boutique firm Pedersoli also achieved remarkable success.
Some interpret this development as a sign that Italy is finally moving away from its traditional business model, where the prestige of a firm was tied to the name of a highly reputed practitioner, a recognised expert in a specific area. The first to have abandoned this paradigm was Nctm, which, upon its creation in 2000, elected to be known by an acronym rather than its founders’ names.
Today, while there is widespread interest in a multi-practice culture and more attention given to junior lawyers, Advant Nctm claims to have taken another step further in a trend which, according to IP partner Paolo Lazzarino, will shape the future of the legal market in Italy and in Europe. ‘What we are seeing is an internationalisation of the market on a European level. In 2021, we announced Advant [an alliance between Nctm, Munich-based Beiten Burkhardt and Paris-headquartered Altana] and in the very same week, Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati did the same’ [forming an alliance with French giant Fidal and Germany’s Luther under the name of unyer].
‘In intellectual property, there has been a shift over to us, to the continent. London does remain important, but its significance has been re-dimensioned.’ Paolo Lazzarino, Advant Nctm
Both networks were a union between France, Germany and Italy. The fact that none of the firms have partnered with UK firms – as they were traditionally keen on doing, is perceived as a consequence of Brexit. Says Lazzarino: ‘In my field, intellectual property, there has been a shift over to us, to the continent. London does remain important, but its significance has been re-dimensioned.’ The British capital suffered from the loss of the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam and from the withdrawal from the Unified Patent Court system. ‘The future of Italy and Europe is more European than Anglo-Saxon. That’s the key to understanding these alliances,’ he adds.
2021 was also a dynamic year for lateral hires, with equity and salaried partners having never been keener on switching allegiances. Among the factors contributing to this surge was demand coming from newly founded law firms, whose number has been on a steady upward trajectory in recent years, demonstrating that Covid has not hindered the development of new practices or the willingness to gain greater competitive capacity in the market.
The current political stability, which was recently confirmed through the re-election of Sergio Mattarella as president, gives certainty to investors. Money has been available through the European Recovery Fund, which has not only helped with Covid-dictated necessities, but also allowed firms that had been struggling for years to cover up part of their problems. As a result, Italy might look at the present as a dolce vita, but there is an unspoken fear, like in the film, that the ground underneath might be shaky. Or, seen from a positive perspective, Italy looks forward with two hopes: one, that companies that were harshly affected by the pandemic and were kept afloat thanks to government subsidised money (notably the retail, tourism, hospitality, leisure and to some extent real estate and construction sectors) will be able to repay their debt when it is due; and two, that the deep-rooted economic problems that European money has allowed Italy to circumvent, will not reappear. If not, restructuring lawyers will be ready. LB
| Rank (by L500 ranking) | Firm | Region | Total lawyers | Total partners | Promotions | Offices | Partner hires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | BonelliErede | Italy | 515 | 90 | 3 | 8 | |
| 14 | Chiomenti | Italy | 367 | 58 | 3 | 7 | |
| 25 | Gianni & Origoni | Italy | 420 | 107 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
| 28 | Legance | Italy | 307 | 51 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 78 | Pedersoli | Italy | 160 | 23 | 3 | ||
| 89 | Advant Nctm | Italy | 260 | 72 | 2 | 5 | 4 |