Italy: Legalcommunity Forty Under 40 Awards 2023
The Forty Under 40 Awards 2023 were held at the East End Studios in Milan, Italy. The ceremony was an opportunity to recognise young excellence in the legal market.
The fourth edition of the event, organised by Legalcommunity.it, saw the awarding of prizes by the jury to individual professionals under 40 years of age and to the teams that, thanks to their activities, have distinguished themselves the most over the last 12 months.
Below are the winners of all categories with their motivations:
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR
Legance
Over 70% of the professionals of the well-known Italian law firm are under 40. Among them are a number of partners and numerous counsels. They work in all practices of the legal market, supporting high-profile partners in systemic transactions with high media impact. Many of them are also team leaders in high value deals.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR
Luigi Costa – Dentons
Co-head of the energy practice, he regularly advises international and Italian clients on development projects, construction, financing and M&A transactions in Italy and abroad. He provides an integrated legal service and is responsible for the coordination of complex activities involving various specific skills and managing strategies.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR ARBITRATION
Cleary Gottlieb
The US firm’s arbitration group consists of 20 out of 27 professionals under 40. During the reporting period, it represented Italian and multinational clients in international commercial arbitrations, with offices in London, Geneva and Milan.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR ARBITRATION
Giovanni Zarra – Hogan Lovells
The senior associate was recently appointed by the Republic of San Marino as a member of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The appointment will allow the professional to play an important role in the international arbitration scenario.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR BANKING & FINANCE
RCCD Hats
The young team demonstrates in the field that it possesses transversal financial expertise ranging from acquisition finance to restructuring finance, from structured finance to leverage finance. It works closely with leading Italian and international investment banks.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR BANKING & FINANCE
Diego Esposito – Linklaters
He has significant experience in acquisition and leveraged finance, restructuring and structured finance transactions, regularly assisting arrangers, sponsors and lenders. During his career, he also worked for some periods in the London, Hong Kong and Singapore offices, specialising in cross-border transactions.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR CAPITAL MARKETS
Dentons
Multidisciplinary team and one of the most active and innovative in the capital market. He assisted, alongside the partner in charge, a pool of banks in the issue of the second green bond by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR CAPITAL MARKETS
Salvatore Graziadei – Orrick
The ability to provide creative solutions aimed at combining complex legal structures with clients’ commercial needs is one of the practitioner’s strengths. Over the past 12 months, he has been involved as lead counsel in numerous transactions.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR ENERGY
Green Horse Legal Advisory
The firm’s energy team boasts a large number of professionals under 40 (22 out of 27). They continuously assist well-known energy operators active in photovoltaics, utilities and oil & gas, in complex transactions ranging from project finance to M&A.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR ENERGY
Arrigo Arrigoni – Gianni & Origoni
Promoted to partner more than a year ago, he has been involved in the most important financial transactions in the field of renewable energy in Italy. In addition to his excellent expertise in project financing in the energy and infrastructure sectors, he boasts outstanding leadership skills.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR EU & COMPETITION
RP Legal & Tax
The firm established an Antitrust Private Enforcement Litigation Team in July 2022 to handle disputes in competition law and unfair business practices. It has acquired a strong specialisation in antitrust matters by assisting companies in relation to cartels, cooperation agreements between competitors, abuse of dominant position.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR EU & COMPETITION
Maria Rosaria Raspanti – Pavia and Ansaldo
The professional provides antitrust and regulated markets advice to major Italian and foreign companies, both in litigation and non-contentious matters. She has an excellent academic record that has led her to be highly regarded in this field despite her young age.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR FINTECH
CMS
The team boasts high-profile international clients, assisted in Italy in high-profile transactions. The under-40 team stands out for its pragmatism, attention to detail, technical expertise and responsiveness.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR FINTECH
Carlo Riganti – Starclex
The young managing partner of the firm has followed important clients active in the production of innovative blockchain technology solutions. He boasts a 360-degree expertise in the field, having gained an in-depth knowledge of the market.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR INFRASTRUCTURE & CONSTRUCTION
Simmons & Simmons
As part of a prestigious plan for the redevelopment of industrial buildings and their transformation, the team assisted numerous clients in various aspects of urban regeneration, brownfield redevelopment, and the transformation of these areas into a multifunctional and sustainable hub.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR INFRASTRUCTURE & CONSTRUCTIONS
Andrea Campilungo – CastaldiPartners
The lawyer works on some of the most important cross-border infrastructure projects in Europe, advising on both litigation and transactions in Italy and France.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR INSOLVENCY & RESTRUCTURING
Gianni & Origoni
The Italian firm’s team of many young lawyers has handled some of the most important restructurings in the last 12 months. The lawyers have high technical skills, practical sense, a multidisciplinary approach and work in close synergy with other departments.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR INSOLVENCY & RESTRUCTURING
Giacomo Colombo – Molinari Agostinelli
The young partner constantly assists banks and financial institutions, investment funds and industrial groups in complex corporate and extraordinary reorganisation transactions, insolvency proceedings, restructuring and turnarounds.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR INSURANCE
DWF
The young team advises numerous insurance companies on an ongoing basis. It is hailed by the market as a benchmark in the industry.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR INSURANCE
Nicolò d’Elia – CMS
The lawyer was one of the founders of the insurance practice in Italy, which, also thanks to his work recognised by his promotion to partner, has grown fourfold in recent years. He works both in Italy and in the UK following the Italian desk in London, which is his brainchild.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR IP & TMT
L&B Partners
The team is made up of 100% professionals under 40 who have supervised important operations in the Ip/Tmt field. Noteworthy is the activity of the professionals in assisting a prestigious hospital on various fronts, including the application of artificial intelligence applied to medical research.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR IP & TMT
Nicole Monte – 42 Law Firm
The professional is specialised in privacy and data protection, following several important clients active in the Tmt field. She works independently coordinating colleagues on projects and clients are enthusiastic about her work, considering her to be technically excellent not only from a legal but also an operational point of view.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR LABOUR
Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo
The firm is a major player in the labour market and has a large team of lawyers, half of whom are under 40. These young professionals have handled some of the most important labour transactions in Italy in a variety of sectors and types of assistance.
LAWYER OF LABOUR
Ranieri Romani – LCA
The young equity partner is mainly active in personnel restructuring procedures, company transfers and all issues related to company crises. Since joining the firm in 2019, the team has developed a significant volume of advice to companies in matters involving trade unions.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR LIFE SCIENCES & PHARMA
Herbert Smith Freehills
The team is composed of highly promising young lawyers who have assisted some of the most influential companies in the pharma sector in significant intellectual property and patent litigation transactions, demonstrating their ability to handle complex deals without ever losing focus.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR LIFE SCIENCES & PHARMA
Lucrezia Guidarelli – Bird & Bird
The professional has developed, in a relatively short period of time, considerable expertise in the life sciences & pharma field. Together with her team, she has assisted important companies in the hospital sector, distinguishing herself for her efficiency and multidisciplinary skills.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR LITIGATION
CDRA – Comandé Di Nola Restuccia Avvocati
The firm has in-depth litigation expertise and half of the team members are under 40 years old. Among the most important cases handled in the last twelve months is an administrative litigation case for a major energy producer.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR LITIGATION
Roberta Chicone – Grande Stevens
This young partner has achieved significant results in litigation in the last 12 months, both in contract and commercial law.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR M&A
Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici
The firm is one of the most active in M&A transactions in Italy. It can count on a large team of 72% professionals under 40 years of age and more than a third of the partners are under 40 years of age. The team has been involved in some of the most important deals of the year.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR M&A
Ilaria Antonella Belluco – CBA
The lawyer has been a trailblazer in her firm, being the first woman promoted before the age of 40 to partner. She heads the M&A team in the north-east of the country and is one of the contact persons for private equity funds in the area. She is considered a role model for future female leadership in the legal field.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR PRIVATE EQUITY
Legance
The Italian firm is a recognised excellence. It boasts 112 professionals active in private equity and of these 85 are under 40, a full 76%. This young team has overseen multi-billion dollar transactions in recent months that have made the firm a leader in the sector in Italy.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR PRIVATE EQUITY
Paolo Nastasi – Allen & Overy
He oversees some of the most important private equity transactions in Italy. He is also the Italian reference partner of the firm’s international focus teams in real estate and alternative investment funds.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR PUBLIC LAW
Bertacco Recla & Partners
The firm handles major clients in both real estate and infrastructure and with a team mainly composed of under 40s, 13 out of 16 in total and 2 out of 5 partners, the firm specialising in administrative law is recognised as excellence in the field.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR PUBLIC LAW
Sebastiano Berardino Santarelli – Deloitte Legal
The young professional has followed numerous clients in the field of administrative law, both in litigation before the Regional Administrative Courts and in advising on the creation of special vehicles in the public administration.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR REAL ESTATE
FlowLex
The firm’s real estate team is two-thirds under 40 and, led by a young partner, has assisted well-known Italian and foreign real estate funds in a number of major acquisitions and realisations of multi-million dollar assets.
LAWYER OF THE YEAR REAL ESTATE
Teresa Ammirabile – Freshfiled
She has gained extensive experience in the real estate sector, advising leading international and domestic clients in connection with the acquisition and disposal of real estate assets and portfolios. She is regularly the point of contact for clients, coordinating the various specialist inputs required in relation to the investment or transaction.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR STARTUP
Leading Law
The team is made up almost entirely of professionals under 40, capable of working cohesively even under pressure, managing the needs of some of the most dynamic and ambitious start-ups.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR TAX
McDermott Will & Emery
The team can boast a quality track record that highlights the competitiveness of the firm’s under-40 members. Over the past 12 months, the professionals have overseen the tax aspects of major transactions for two major players in the food industry.
PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR TAX
Maurizio Fresca – Chiomenti
He has built an excellent credibility in the tax field thanks to the numerous consultancies he has carried out for clients, including international ones. Over the last 12 months, he has been involved in complicated and important transactions with considerable media and strategic value.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR TAX M&A
Russo De Rosa Associates
The tax team of the firm specialising in corporate transactions consists of 40 out of 52 members who are young professionals under 40 years of age. The group has handled several multi-million dollar transactions from a tax perspective with specific expertise widely recognised by the market.
PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR TAX M&A
Matteo Carfagnini – Foglia & Partners
The young partner assisted many of the firm’s clients in all tax advisory activities. In particular, he has personally coordinated many transactions, becoming a reference point for both the firm’s professionals and clients, and has distinguished himself for having personally managed several important mergers and acquisitions.
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR WHITE COLLAR CRIME
Logrillo Law Firm
The firm’s team is made up entirely of professionals under 40, capable of supervising with cohesion and precision important cases for well-known companies on national soil, achieving excellent results.
BEST PRACTICE DEBT CAPITAL MARKETS
Irene Scalzo – Chiomenti
This young professional has proven to be able to understand and respond promptly to clients’ needs, even when faced with new regulations and complex issues. She is autonomous in managing transactions and is perceived by clients and colleagues as a point of reference.
FASHION, DESIGN & LUXURY BEST PRACTICE
Massimo Baghetti – Jacobacci & Associates Law Firm
Specialised in the IP practice, the young professional has developed a deep expertise in the fashion and luxury market, assisting major international players on an ongoing basis, both in consultancy and litigation.
NOTARY FIRM OF THE YEAR
Leading Law
It is the first professional network in which notaries and lawyers operate. The team is made up of young professionals who offer excellent all-round notarial advice in all fields of law.
NOTARY OF THE YEAR
Davide Mascagni – Mascagni | Notary Studio
In 2022, the notary’s office consolidated the growth path that began with its opening in Milan in 2018. The modern attitude and professionalism of its founder are recognised by long-term collaborations with the most active law firms in the Milanese market.
