Legal Business

DLA Piper boosts Italian offer with nine hires from Ashurst

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.

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.

Others joining the team include restructuring specialists Francesco Manzari, Martino Liva and Anna Ferrari, and litigators Luisa Gatti, Andrea Bellenchi, and Flavia Volpi.

The additions boost the headcount at DLA’s Italian office to 169, including 43 partners.

DLA Italy’s managing partner Bruno Giuffre said: ‘the talent, the experience and the vision of the lawyers in this new team will enhance our already impressive range of services, globally and nationally, in the complex areas of financial restructurings and turnarounds and the resultant requirements in terms of finance, distressed M&A, insolvency and litigation.’

Going the other way, DLA lost a team of lawyers to Dentons last week including three partners which moved to Dentons’ new Milan office.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk