Staying the distance

When a global law firm like White & Case pulls out of a key European jurisdiction like Italy, people usually sit up and take notice. White & Case – having already exited Rome and Turin three years ago – closed its Milan office at the end of November. The firm issued this rather revealing statement: ‘The level of investment required to reach the position in Italy that the firm requires of its operations in any market was beyond that which is in the best interests of the firm as a whole.’

However, the firm’s withdrawal did not surprise many people in the Italian market. The exit was an ‘easy guess’, says name partner Gianni Forlani of De Berti Jacchia Franchini Forlani. Meanwhile, Bonelli Erede Pappalardo’s Andrea Carta Mantiglia told Legal Business: ‘White & Case has always had some difficulty in achieving a major role in the Italian legal market. Given the efforts needed to become a big player in Italy, it is not surprising that, in a time of crisis, it has decided to withdraw.’

Partner Stefano Sutti of Studio Legale Sutti – a domestic law firm with offices all over eastern Europe – highlights a common problem experienced by the Anglo-Saxon entrants. ‘When the US and UK law firms arrived, they tended to focus on corporate finance work and large-scale deals,’ he says. ‘This was the only field where they could keep up the rates they were used to in London and Manhattan. With lockstep partnership agreements, it was difficult to work in areas in southern Europe where you couldn’t pull in E600 per hour from clients but instead only around half that figure.’

Looking ahead, Ughi & Nunziante partner Rino Caizzo expects further exits from the Italian market. ‘The likely victims will be those global law firms that have not yet succeeded in firmly establishing a significant market share of premium Italian work,’ he predicts.

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