‘Reforms are the major challenge for Italy. For many years, we didn’t have the political strength – Renzi had it,’ says Carlo Croff, senior partner at Chiomenti. Matteo Renzi was Italy’s prime minister until December 2016 when his constitutional reforms were rejected in a referendum. ‘Clients, particularly those with investments in Italy, have been disappointed,’ Croff observes.
Ashurst closed the doors to two of its European offices in June, confirming it will dissolve its Swedish offering with the entire team of 30 staff in its Stockholm office moving to Hamilton.
The firm will also close its base in Rome with its remaining lawyers relocating to Milan following a review of its Italian offering after a string of exits. The fate of the office was sealed following the resignation of the Rome office’s sole partner Aian Abbas.
Continue reading “Ashurst retreats in Europe, closing Stockholm and Rome”
In its second European closure this month, Ashurst is shutting the doors to its Rome office after five years, with its remaining lawyers relocating to Milan following a review of its Italian offering.
Continue reading “European retreat: Ashurst pulls out of Rome days after Sweden exit”
UK law firm Fieldfisher has entered Italy through a merger with 21 partner firm Studio Associato Servizi Professionali Integrati (SASPI), which has offices in Milan, Rome, Venice and Turin.
Continue reading “Italian Job: Fieldfisher merges with Milan headquartered firm SASPI”
A new generation is revitalising the performance of a trio of Italian leaders committed to remaining steadfastly independent
It’s been a hard decade for Italy, not least for its law firms: the product of a flat economy and relatively few deals. Even before the crisis, the economy had the lowest sustained growth of any OECD country. But there has been a recent renaissance, of sorts, with GDP optimistically predicted to rise by 1.6% in 2016, while concluded deals totalled €50bn in each of the last two years, according to KPMG.
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.
Continue reading “La Dolce Vita: Dentons opens first Italian office with DLA hires”
DLA Piper has hired a team of three partners and six other lawyers from Ashurst for its restructuring and litigation group in Italy, in a move which boosts its Italian partner count to 43.
Continue reading “DLA Piper boosts Italian offer with nine hires from Ashurst”
Clifford Chance (CC) and Shearman & Sterling have landed lead advisory roles on the floatation of Italy’s post office, in an initial public offering expected to be valued between €8 and €10bn, allowing the government to raise up to €4bn from its partial privatisation.
Continue reading “Clifford Chance and Shearman deliver advice on Italy’s €4bn post office IPO”
One of Italy’s most successful football teams, Inter Milan, has turned to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as it becomes the latest European football club to be taken over by foreign investors.
The club has sold a 70% stake to International Sports Capital (ISC), which is indirectly owned by Indonesian billionaire Erick Thohir and prominent Indonesian investors Rosan Roeslani and Handy Soetedjo. Continue reading “The beautiful game: Cleary advises Inter Milan on sale of 70% stake to Indonesian tycoons”
In 2011 Stefano Simontacchi, then head of tax at the Italian legal giant Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, made a high-stakes presentation at the firm’s general partners’ meeting. The increasingly disastrous economic climate in Italy was forcing the firm to reappraise its strategy and Simontacchi, as part of a three-partner committee, had been approved by the firm’s board to find a solution.
‘We needed strategic thinking about whether we wanted to be a very small boutique or whether we wanted to remain at the size we were,’ recalls Simontacchi. ‘In which case, how could we survive when overall spending capacity of the market is decreasing?’
Continue reading “Renaissance style – the battle to modernise Italy’s legal elite”
