Dentons has opened its first office in Italy having hired 21 lawyers, including three partners from DLA Piper, as well as from a local employment law boutique.
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 energy partner Matteo Falcione and real estate expert Federico Vanetti. Partners Aldo Calza and Iacopo Aliverti Piuri are also joining from employment law boutique hELP, which was founded by Calza after leaving DLA Piper.
On its foray into Italy, Europe chief executive Tomasz Dabrowski 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.’
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.
While DLA Piper may have lost three partners to Dentons’ Italian play, it did hire a team of lawyers from Ashurst for its restructuring and litigation group across its two offices in Milan and Rome.
Former Ashurst partner Francesco De Gennaro will lead the team, which includes restructuring lawyer Luca Magrini and litigator Alessandro Lanzi who were counsel at Ashurst but join DLA as partners. De Gennaro’s practice at Ashurst focused on large restructurings, distressed assets acquisitions and debt trading, acting for companies in financial difficulty as well as representing creditors and investors in distressed situations. The additions boost the headcount of DLA’s Italian practice to 169, including 43 partners.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk