25th November 2013Milan

beyond, including over 600 le-gal professionals attended the evening which has established itself as the most important date of the year for the Italian legal market.

Among the most eagerly awaited moments during the ceremony, the categories for the best law firm and indi-vidual lawyer. The award for Law Firm of the Year went to DLA Piper which went on to collect a total of three prizes during the evening. The judg-es agreed the international

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Italy special reportItaly special report

TOPLEGAL AWARDS 2013

The Italian Legal Oscars

The key event for the Italian legal market, now in its seventh year, brought

together 77 law firms and over 600 guests. This year, it was the turn

of international law firms to triumph with a string of successes

The East End Studios in Milan were once again the venue for the seventh annual TopLegal Awards. A

total of thirty-six awards were presented during the evening of November 25th, based on the verdict of a distinguished panel of 21 judges drawn from Italy’s corporate and fi-nancial business community, and supported by the work of journalists and researchers at TopLegal. A total of 77 law firms from across Italy and

TopLegal Awards 2013: the Judges

Gianpaolo Alessandro Head of Corporate Affairs & Board Secretary, Unicredit

Stefano Camillò Head of Human Resources, Salini

Stefano Ceccacci Head of Tax Affairs, Unicredit

Filippo Corsi Vice President Director Legal Business Affairs and Litigation, Ansaldo STS

Nicola Dagna Head of Legal, McDonald’s Development Italy

Paola De Martini Tax and Corporate Governance Director, Luxottica Group

Pierfrancesco De Rossi General Counsel Legal & Compliance, Siemens

Ugo Ettore Di Stefano Head of Group Legal Affairs, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore

Giuseppe Ferrara Head of Intellectual Property, Innovation, Labour and Legal Policies, Enel

Carlo Gagliardi General Counsel, Banca Popolare di Milano

Mario Greganti Group HR & Organization Director, Canali

Gennaro Imbimbo Head of Legal Affairs, Fondo Italiano d’Investimento

Gianluca Liotta General Counsel e HR Manager, 3M Italy

Andrea Perin CEO, Finanziaria Internazionale Securitisation Group

Gabriella Porcelli Senior Counsel, Philip Morris Italy

Marco Reggiani Head of Corporate Affairs, Legal and Compliance, Snam

Antonio Scarpino Head of Contracting & Labour law, Legal Affairs, Vodafone Omnitel

Carla Serafini Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Poste Vita e Poste Assicura

Brian Sheridan General Counsel, Sorin Group

Enrica Tocci Chief Legal and Ethics Officer, GDF Suez Energy Italy

Angelo Viti Director HR and Legal Affairs, Carlsberg Italy

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firm had achieved the most in terms of consolidating its market positioning and in-tegrating its teams following several years of significant expansion, both in terms of fi-nancial growth and increases in headcount. This view was supported by the fact that a wide range of partners across the firm’s different practices were responsible for winning instructions for major deals throughout the year.

Meanwhile, Francesco Gi-anni, senior partner at Gi-anni Origoni Grippo Capelli & Partners, won the Lawyer of the Year Award. Gianni clinched the title for the third time in seven years having previously won in 2008 and 2009. Gianni won thanks to his innovative stewardship which in recent years has seen the firm pursuing a successful strategy based on diversifying and internationalising its ser-vices, along with his own role in big-ticket corporate trans-actions during 2013.

Meanwhile, English law firms scored notable successes elsewhere, gaining prominence in the managing partner, wom-an lawyer and emerging lawyer of the year categories.

Massimiliano Mostardini received the award for Man-aging Partner of the Year af-ter having turned Bird & Bird into a major player in the Ital-ian market following consist-ent expansion in recent years. The IP/IT boutique has suc-cessfully diversified into the transactional market and the Italian offices in Milan and Rome currently stand as the most profitable among the firm’s global bases.

Tax consultant Paola Flora of Ashurst edged out rivals to win the award for Woman Lawyer of the Year. As managing part-ner of Ashurst’s Milan office, Flora is among the small mi-nority of women to lead a team in Italy. The panel not only recognised her role in directly promoting women in the pro-fession thanks to her position as a board member of Asla, the Italian association of law firms, but also for her role as an advi-sor on significant project and infrastructure deals.

Linklaters’ managing asso-ciate Ettore Consalvi was rec-ognised as the Emerging Law-yer of the Year under the age of 35. Consalvi had a hand in some of the principle corpo-rate restructurings of the year.

While Milan and Rome rep-

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ItalyItaly

1. Wolf Michael Kühne (left) and Federico Sutti from DLA Piper receive the award for Law Firm of the Year

2. Francesco Gianni, Lawyer of the Year

3. Woman Lawyer of the Year, Paola Flora from Ashurst

4. The emerging lawyer, Ettore Consalvi of Linklaters

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resent the principal centres for legal business in Italy, the Italian legal market is highly decentralised with a number strong regional practices serv-ing important medium-sized enterprises and public bodies. Tonucci & Partners claimed Law Firm of the Year for Northern Italy thanks to its as-sistance to the export-oriented small and medium-sized busi-nesses located in the Veneto region in the North West cor-ner of the country. Meanwhile, LS Lexjus Sinacta took the honours for Central Italy, and environment and public law boutique Ennio Magrì & As-sociati won in Southern Italy.

In addition to distinction in technical legal and man-agement skill, TopLegal also recognises law firms for out-standing workplace culture and innovation, both of inter-nal business leadership and cli-ent service. The award for Best Place to Work went to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. The US firm was judged to have performed strongly on internal growth, training, and policies to promote equality among its associates. Osborne Clarke won the award for innovation in recognition of its efforts to establish the first tailor-made service in Italy for digital busi-ness start-up clients.

A new category introduced at last year’s ceremony, the Law Firm of the Year for small and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs) which targeted the emerging markets, was this year modified to recognise le-gal assistance for the most sig-nificant national transaction or mandate on behalf of an SME. Padua-based regional firm Spinazzi Azzarita Troi from Northern Italy emerged as the

winner for its role in the rescue of a local cast iron foundry.

TopLegal’s award for excel-lence, which recognises the distinct contribution to the legal profession on the part of an elder statesman, was giv-en to employment specialist Mattia Persiani. TL

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5. Spinazzi Azzarita Troi, winners of the SME

Deal of the Year

6. Tonucci & partners wins regional Law Firm of the Year

for Northern Italy

7. Mattia Persiani accepts the award for Excellence

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The Big Winners of 2013Bird & Bird, Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Dla Piper and Gianni

Origoni each won in three separate categories. Chiomenti and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton were called to the podium twice

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton wins the award for Best Place to Work

Six law firms walked away with more than one prize at this year’s

TopLegal Awards. Bird & Bird, Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Dla Piper and Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners each won in three separate categories. Chiomenti and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Ham-ilton were also repeat winners with two awards each.

Bird & Bird’s three wins included awards for IP part-ner Giovanni Galimberti (IP Lawyer of the Year), for the TMT practice as well as for managing partner Massi-miliano Mostardini. It also turned out to be a successful night for DLA Piper. In addi-

tion to winning Law Firm of the Year, DLA’s senior part-ner Francesco Novelli won the individual category for Energy while partner Giangi-acomo Olivi was judged to be the best TMT lawyer. Bonelli Erede Pappalardo won two team awards for best corpo-rate and litigation practices, and scooped an individual prize in the tax category thanks to partner Andrea Silvestri. The night’s fourth big winner was Gianni Orig-oni Grippo Cappelli & Part-ners which bagged a team award for Energy as well as recognition for two individu-al partners: Antonella Capria (Public Law) and Francesco

Gianni (Lawyer of the Year). Chiomenti, meanwhile,

scored a double winning Competition Law Firm of the Year and celebrated an indi-vidual award with partner Francesco Tedeschini (Cor-porate Lawyer of the Year). Finally Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton secured an indi-vidual award with competi-tion partner Matteo Beretta as well as a collective prize for Best Place to Work. TL 

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Italy

Massimiliano Mostardini of Bird & Bird, Managing

Partner of the Year

Italy

We would like to thank the judges and our clients for their support and growing confidence in the firm, which represent a stimulus to the

pursuit of ever more ambitious goals.

@DLA_Piper_Italy www.dlapiper.com

Thank you

DLA Piper

Francesco Novelli Giangiacomo Olivi

DLA Piper Studio Legale Tributario Associato is part of DLA Piper, global law firm operating through various separate and distinct legal entities. Further details may be found at www.dlapiper.com

We would like to thank the judges and our clients for their support and growing confidence in the firm, which represent a stimulus to the

pursuit of ever more ambitious goals.

@DLA_Piper_Italy www.dlapiper.com

Thank you

DLA Piper

Francesco Novelli Giangiacomo Olivi

DLA Piper Studio Legale Tributario Associato is part of DLA Piper, global law firm operating through various separate and distinct legal entities. Further details may be found at www.dlapiper.com

1. Antonella Capria (Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli &

Partners), Public Law Lawyer of the Year

2. Matteo Beretta of Cleary Gottlieb, Lawyer of the Year,

Competition & EU Law

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Italy

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The winners by legal sector

The Italy’s best lawyers and firms in 12 practice areas

The TopLegal Awards of 2013 were set against the back-ground of another difficult year for law

firms and their clients. Here’s a closer look at who won and why.

Competition & eU LawThe Italian Antitrust Authority has been increasingly focussing its attention in recent years on monopolies and cartels, provi-ding competition practices with an expanded workload. Firm of the Year: ChiomentiChiomenti, which bolstered its team with a major lateral hire, took the law firm award.

Lawyer of the Year: Matteo Beretta, Cleary Gottlier Steen & HamiltonPerennial competition front

runner Cleary Gottlieb was this year recognised in the indivi-dual category in the shape of partner Beretta.

CorporateLarge corporate practices have been the chief victims of the re-cession which has decimated big-ticket work. Of the major tran-sactions that were completed, the majority involved cross-border acquisitions of Italian targets.

Law Firm of the Year: Bonelli Erede PappalardoA player in several of the prin-cipal corporate transactions of 2013. Among the standout instructions, the firm advised Italian toll road operator Atlan-tia on its acquisition of Gemina to create one of the biggest Eu-ropean motorway and airport groups with businesses in Italy and Latin America.

Lawyer of the Year, Francesco Tedeschini, Chiomenti  Tedeschini and his team steered the reorganization of Italian in-surer Generali and were called in to advise on negotiations for the control of Telecom Italia. Tede-schini also advised Bulgari on its €4.3 billion takeover by French luxury conglomerate LMVH.

advised Fiat and Barclays on its reorganization.

Lawyer of the Year: Rosario Salonia, Salonia e AssociatiSalonia was recognized for his role in major corporate takeovers.

inteLLeCtUaL propertyThe awareness of the strategic value of intellectual property is growing among Italian corpo-rates which are turning to legal advisers not only to protect their trademarks and patents but also to generate value from IP rights as additional business assets.

Law Firm of the Year: Hogan LovellsFirst-time winners of this cat-egory, Hogan Lovells advised successfully on numerous pro-ceedings for clients including Benetton, Prada, Estée Lauder and H&M.

Lawyer of the Year: Giovanni Galimberti, Bird & BirdGalimberti beat off strong com-petition from rivals to secure the individual award for intel-lectual property. In a series of multijurisdictional cases, he advised clients including Apple, Ericsson and Sony Mobile.

LitigationIn the midst of the longest post-war recession, civil litigation has contributed prominently to the balance sheets of Italian

3. Litigator of the Year, Elisabetta Rubini

4. Laura Salvaneschi receives the award for Litigation Law Firm of the Year on behalf of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo

5. Andrea Carta Mantiglia receives the award for Corporate Law Firm of the Year on behalf of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo

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energyThe face of the Italian ener-gy market has changed in re-cent years. Legal advisers have reaped a premium by moving away from traditional areas like project finance and energy infrastructure and switching to novel energy financings (project bonds) and the flouri-shing secondary M&A market.

Law Firm of the Year: Gianni Grippo Origoni Capelli & Partners

Lawyer of the Year: Francesco Novelli, Dla PiperGianni Origoni and a DLA Pi-per team led by senior partner Francesco Novelli advised on one of the most significant corporate deals in the Italian energy sector. The cross-bor-der transaction involved Fran-ce’s GDF Suez and its subsidia-ry International Power (advi-sed by Gianni Origoni) selling an 80% stake of IP Maestrale to Italian energy company Erg (advised by Novelli).

empLoymentSpecialists in Italy’s em-ployment practices had ano-ther busy year dealing with company reorganizations, col-lective redundancies and is-sues arising from special layoff funds paid to jobless workers. Law Firm of the Year: Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo e SociThe leading boutique player

Finance, a competitive yearAllen & Overy and Clifford Chance shared the team spoils.

White & Case’s Michael Immordino secured the individual award

It was another year in which debt-related work, particularly tran-

sactions involving debt capital markets, took cen-tre stage. With traditional bank lending at a historic low, legal advisers and their clients sought alternati-ve, and often innovative, sources of new finance.

Law Firm of the Year: Allen & Overy / Clifford ChanceFor only the second time in the history of the TopLegal Awards, two firms shared an award. This year, it fell to the finance practices at magic circle names Allen & Overy

and Clifford Chance. Allen & Overy drew praise for its debt capital markets prac-tice with a string of top tier bond emissions for banks and blue-chip corporates. Clifford Chance, mean-while, distinguished itself in pure finance, provid-ing assistance to banks for acquisition and high-yield financing. Both firms were regarded as among the most active finance teams in Italy.

Lawyer of the Year: Michael Immordino, White & CaseImmordino was respon-sible for putting together some of the innovative fi-

nance deals in the Italian market, including private placement and high-yield transactions. TL 

Craig Byrne of Allen Overy (left) and

Charles Adams (Clifford Chance) congratulate

each other as joint winners of the Finance

Law Firm of the Year

law firms. The year witnessed a number of headline corporate battles with prominent litiga-tors squaring up in court.

Law Firm of the Year: Bonelli Erede PappalardoThe full-service heavyweight with a deep bench of conten-tious experts was at the centre of several major litigation cas-es. A notable example was the

battle for control of Impregilo, Italy’s largest construction company, which saw Bonelli’s client Salini emerge as the vic-tor in Italy’s first proxy fight.

Lawyer of the Year: Elisabetta Rubini, RubiniRubbini won a landmark case for her client Compagnie In-dustriali Riunite (CIR), a diver-sified holding owned by busi-

nessman Carlo De Benedetti, against rival and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest, a media holding company. The case was one of the first involving corruption-related damages. The appeals court set final damages owned by Fininvest to CIR at €494 milion after a judge was bribed in earlier litigation between Fininvest and CIR.

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special report

pUbLiC LawNo longer an ancillary or mi-nor practice, Public law has emerged from being the pursuit of specialist practitioners work-ing independently in boutique practices to become a strategic offering embedded in the full-service model.

Firm of the Year: LeganceThe Public Law team at Le-gance distinguished itself this year with its assistance for urban regeneration pro-jects and tenders for contracts relating to urban projects.

Lawyer of the Year: Antonella Capria, Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & PartnersThe individual category was won by Capria thanks to her in-novative and strategic defensive strategies for clients.

restrUCtUringClosely related to the suite of an-ti-cyclical practices which have boosted business for law firms, the restructuring sector was buoyed by the increase in corpo-rate insolvencies and bankrupt-cies, as well as recent legislation relating to creditors’ agreements for corporate rescues.

Law Firm of the Year: Lombardi Molinari e AssociatiThe firm collected numerous in-structions for significant restruc-turings, both from corporates and banks. The team acted for Italian unlisted holding company Carlo

6. Luigi Mansani receives the award for intellectual property on behalf of Hogan Lovells

7. Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo wins Law Firm of the Year for Employment

8. White Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year Massimo Dinoia of Dinoia Federico Pelanda Simbari Uslenghi

9. Giuseppe Lombardi (left) and Ugo Molinari of Lombardi Molinari awarded Restructuring Law Firm of the Year

10. (from left to right) Pietro Piccone Ferrarotti, Riccardo Michelutti e Marco Cerrato of Maisto e Associati, Tax Law Firm of the Year

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Italy

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P&I - Studio Legale Guccione e Associati is a professional association that provides legal assistance in judicial (administrative litigation, civil and arbitration) and ex-trajudicial matters in the main areas of law that are of central importance in the field of Public utilities and Infrastructures. A boutique law firm that could boast a large number of leading PPP deals successfully closed.

I wish to thank the board and clients for the shown esteem and trust that will project theFirm towards even more challenging goals.Heartfelt thanks to my team.

Corso I ta l ia , 45 - 00198 Roma Tel . +39 06 855 3054 Fax +39 06 929 12894 e - m a i l : i n f o @ p e i l e x . c o ms i t o : w w w . p e i l e x . c o m

TOPLEGALAWARDS

2013

TOPLEGALAWARDS

2013

FINALISTA Studio InnovazioneFINALISTA Amministrativo

Avv. Claudio Guccione STUDIO LEGALE P&I

P I&ST

UD

IOLE

GA

LE

GUCCIONE E ASSOCIATI

P&I - Studio Legale Guccione e Associati is a professional association that provides legal assistance in judicial (administrative litigation, civil and arbitration) and ex-trajudicial matters in the main areas of law that are of central importance in the field of Public utilities and Infrastructures. A boutique law firm that could boast a large number of leading PPP deals successfully closed.

I wish to thank the board and clients for the shown esteem and trust that will project theFirm towards even more challenging goals.Heartfelt thanks to my team.

Corso I ta l ia , 45 - 00198 Roma Tel . +39 06 855 3054 Fax +39 06 929 12894 e - m a i l : i n f o @ p e i l e x . c o ms i t o : w w w . p e i l e x . c o m

TOPLEGALAWARDS

2013

TOPLEGALAWARDS

2013

FINALISTA Studio InnovazioneFINALISTA Amministrativo

Avv. Claudio Guccione STUDIO LEGALE P&I

P I&ST

UD

IOLE

GA

LE

GUCCIONE E ASSOCIATI

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Category Winner

Individual Awards

Lawyer of the Year Francesco Gianni (Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners)

Managing / Senior Partner of the Year Massimiliano Mostardini (Bird & Bird)

Woman Lawyer of the Year Paola Flora (Ashurst)

Emerging Lawyer of the Year (under 35) Ettore Consalvi (Linklaters)

Law Firm

Aw

ards

Lawyer of the Year Francesco Gianni (Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners)

Managing / Senior Partner of the Year Massimiliano Mostardini (Bird & Bird)

Woman Lawyer of the Year Paola Flora (Ashurst)

Emerging Lawyer of the Year (under 35) Ettore Consalvi (Linklaters)

Studio dell'anno Innovazione Osborne Clarke

Studio dell'anno Best place to work Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Operazione dell'anno Pmi Spinazzi Azzarita Troi

Law Firm

Aw

ards by Practice

Law Firm of the Year Competition & EU law Chiomenti

Law Firm of the Year Corporate Bonelli Erede Pappalardo

Law Firm of the Year Employment Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo e soci

Law Firm of the Year Energy Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners

Law Firm of the Year Finance Allen & Overy / Clifford Chance

Law Firm of the Year Intellectual Property Hogan Lovells

Law Firm of the Year Litigation Bonelli Erede Pappalardo

Law Firm of the Year Public Law Legance

Law Firm of the Year Restructuring Lombardi Molinari e Associati

Law Firm of the Year Tax Maisto e Associati

Law Firm of the Year TMT Bird & Bird

Law Firm of the Year White Collar Crime Penalisti AssociatiIndividual A

wards by Practice

Lawyer of the Year Competition & EU law Matteo Beretta (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton)

Lawyer of the Year Corporate Francesco Tedeschini (Chiomenti)

Lawyer of the Year Employment Rosario Salonia (Salonia e Associati)

Lawyer of the Year Energy Francesco Novelli (Dla Piper)

Lawyer of the Year Finance Michael Immordino (White & Case)

Lawyer of the Year Intellectual Property Giovani Galimberti (Bird & Bird)

Lawyer of the Year Litigation Elisabetta Rubini (Rubini)

Lawyer of the Year Public Law Antonella Capria (Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners)

Lawyer of the Year Restructuring Bruno Cova (Paul Hastings)

Lawyer of the Year Tax Andrea Silvestri (Bonelli Erede Pappalardo)

Lawyer of the Year TMT Giangiacomo Olivi (Dla Piper)

Lawyer of the Year White Collar Crime Massimo Dinoia (Dinoia Simbari Pelanda Uslenghi)

TopLegal Award for Excellence Mattia Persiani

The Winners

Tassara, controlled by financier Romain Zaleski, on the restruc-turing of its €2 billion debt.

Lawyer of the Year: Bruno Cova, Paul HastingsCova advised on the debt re-structuring of Italian luxury yacht maker Ferretti and steel-maker Lucchini, Italy’s second-largest producer, which was placed under receivership proce-dures to save it from bankruptcy.

taxPre-contentious and litigation work for tax specialists has been on the rise following increas-ingly aggressive crackdowns against tax evasion on the part of the Italian authorities. Inter-national tax and transfer pricing issues along with debt-related tax work have been prominent in the caseload for law firms.

Law Firm of the Year: Maisto e AssociatiAt the forefront of a string of complex tax cases, the boutique firm was recognised for its pio-neering legal advice. Standout instructions included major tax litigation and tax structuring for multi-billion securitizations.

Lawyer of the Year: Andrea Silvestri, Bonelli Erede PappalardoSilvestri led a strong tax team for the firm’s major cross-bor-der M&A deals.

tmtRegulatory matters linked to data privacy and the relation-

ship between content provid-ers and users were major issues this year for TMT specialists.

Law Firm of the Year: Bird & BirdRecognised for its assistance to major telecom clients and liti-gation in the advertising sector.

Lawyer of the Year: Giangiacomo Olivi, DLA PiperOlivi took a leading role in the major transactions involving tra-ditional and new media clients.

white CoLLar CrimeInstructions relating to corpo-rate crimes, including tax fraud as well as environmental crimes, are booming as corporate and commercial law firms seeks to bolster their teams with white collar crime specialists.

Firm of the Year: Penalisti AssociatiThe boutique founded by Paola Severino, a former minister for justice in the recent Monti gov-ernment, was at the forefront of major corporate crime cases.

Lawyer of the Year: Massimo Dinoia, Dinoia Federico Pelanda Simbari UslenghiDinoia, among the very found-ers of a niche white collar crime firm to open up its association as part of a succession plan, was recognised for represent-ing fashion designers Domeni-co Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in their appeal against a jail sentence for tax evasion. TL

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special report