Milano, 28th May 2024 – Legance – Avvocati Associati appoints 4 new partners and 10 Senior Counsel. Following the appointments of Giorgio Colombo, Lorenzo Gentiloni Silveri, Laura Li Donni and Valeria Viti the number of partners has risen to 69. The number of Senior Counsel has now reached 29 with the promotion of Filippo Benintendi, Francesca Carlesi, Giusi Colasuonno, Marco D’Agostini, Marco Gagliardi, Filippo Innocenti, Edward Ruggeri, Andrea Tortora della Corte, Cristiana Visco and Beatrice Zilio.
These new appointments, comments Alberto Maggi, Managing Partner, confirm Legance’s strategy of promoting professionals who, with passion and dedication, have contributed to the Firm’s success, knowing how to seize this opportunity for growth.
Giorgio Colombo has broad and in-depth experience in litigation and arbitration matters, with specific reference to the corporate, banking, financial intermediation, insolvency, infrastructure, transport and telecommunications sectors. He assists leading Italian and international institutional investors (including private equity funds and investment banks), both in extrajudicial and judicial proceedings. He is the author of several publications in the field of Civil Law and is a lecturer in this subject at the University of Milan. He is a member of the Milan Bar and is qualified to practice before the higher courts.
Lorenzo Gentiloni Silveri has been assisting major national and international players in the Life Sciences & Healthcare sector for many years, and has gained extensive experience in this field. He mainly deals with M&A transactions and all aspects of corporate law and compliance issues relating to the hospital, pharmaceutical, medical device, scientific research, artificial intelligence, digital health, veterinary and pet care sectors. In recent years, in addition to lecturing in healthcare law courses, he has been involved in, inter alia, major M&A transactions between healthcare and insurance operators that have led to the introduction of new business models in the market, as well as the first projects applying Artificial Intelligence to the healthcare sector for the development of revolutionary solutions. Lorenzo also handles M&A and corporate finance transactions in other sectors and has significant experience in civil and commercial litigation and restructuring.
Laura Li Donni deals with M&A transactions on listed and unlisted companies. She advises private equity funds, companies (both listed and unlisted), financial institutions and entrepreneurs, both Italian and international, in complex extraordinary transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations, in various sectors (digital, infrastructure, energy). She has gained extensive experience in the field of financial market regulation. Laura Li Donni has been continuously involved in some of the most important transactions in Italy and Europe in recent years. Her professional skills also include significant experience in negotiating commercial contracts.
Valeria Viti has gained significant experience in Energy & Infrastructure, a sector in which she deals with the legislation and state regulatory aspects related to the construction, acquisition and financing of energy production plants from renewable or conventional sources, grid infrastructures, trading contracts, and the establishment of energy communities. In this context, she assists leading national and international operators, investment funds, merchant banks and financial institutions.
Filippo Benintendi focuses on corporate merger and acquisition transactions, joint ventures, commercial contracts and corporate governance issues. He graduated cum laude from the University of
Turin in 2009, obtained an LL.M. in Corporate and Commercial Law from the London School of Economics in 2016 and an Executive MBA from SDA Bocconi in 2020. He currently holds the position of Senior Board member of the Finance Club of SDA Bocconi.
Francesca Carlesi has gained extensive experience in all aspects of environmental law, assisting both national and international clients on issues related to, for example, waste management and remediation procedures, environmental impact assessment proceedings and relating to the various environmental authorisations, issues related to quarries and mines, and procedures for the granting of exploration permits or concessions for the cultivation of hydrocarbon deposits. Francesca also has experience in EU and national regulations relating to packaging, labelling and waste management, including in the agri-food sector; she has experience in the energy sector and health and safety in the workplace. She provides clients with both day-to-day and out-of-court assistance in legal proceedings.
Giusi Colasuonno deals with M&A and project financing in the energy and infrastructure sector. She has developed an extensive track record in drafting and negotiating acquisition agreements, investment agreements, shareholders’ agreements and long-term commercial partnership agreements in the context of transactions of particular significance in the energy market. She assists leading national and international operators, investment funds and financial institutions in all the phases that usually characterise these types of transactions. She has been involved in infrastructural project financing transactions of particular relevance in the transport sector.
Marco D’Agostini has gained extensive experience in all aspects of the management and termination of employment relationships. In particular, he deals with the negotiation and drafting of top management agreements, including incentive instruments and non-competition agreements, including for listed companies or regulated entities. He assists clients in disputes concerning individual and collective dismissals, anti-union conduct, demotion, mobbing and harassment.
Marco Gagliardi deals with banking law transactions and has been involved in numerous financing transactions, assisting leading banks and corporations, investment funds and alternative lenders in the context of corporate financing, acquisition financing and leveraged buy-out financing and in public-to-private transactions. He also gained significant experience in real estate financing, some of which involved the use of innovative structures, and in related regulatory matters.
Filippo Innocenti deals with M&A transactions, corporate law and contract law. He focuses on mergers, demergers and acquisitions (including real estate transactions) as well as joint ventures. He has gained experience in drafting and negotiating contracts for the sale and purchase of shareholdings, companies or branches of businesses, shareholders’ agreements and commercial contracts. He also assists numerous Italian companies in relation to their management from a corporate point of view.
Edward Ruggeri has more than 15 years’ experience in all aspects of environmental, health and safety, energy, food and ESG law. On the judicial and extrajudicial front, he focuses on issues relating to air emissions, water discharges, Integrated Environmental Authorisations, environmental impact assessments, waste management and site remediation, agreements for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, compliance with F-Gas standards and regulations, support in the development of ESG strategies and policies, green claims, packaging and labelling, as well as climate litigation and environmental criminal proceedings.
Andrea Tortora della Corte assists both Italian and foreign clients in the structuring and execution of complex private M&A transactions, in particular in relation to private equity funds and industrial
operators for strategic investments, joint ventures and other extraordinary finance transactions. He has gained experience across the board, having handled major transactions in a variety of sectors including fashion & luxury, real estate, insurance, food & beverage and mechanical engineering. He also assists start-ups and venture capital funds in both financing and investment transactions.
Cristiana Visco specialises in domestic and international M&A and private equity transactions, as well as complex extraordinary transactions, mainly in regulated sectors (energy, networks and infrastructure). She has gained extensive experience in advising leading private equity and infrastructure funds on some of the most important deals finalised in Italy in the energy, transport and telecommunications sectors.
Beatrice Zilio deals with banking and finance law transactions. She advises banks and other lenders, investment funds, sponsors and national and international companies of the highest standing, in connection with acquisition and investment financing, real estate financing, corporate and leveraged finance, margin loans and financing for takeover bids, in the most important economic sectors, in many of which she has implemented innovative and complex structures. She has also gained extensive expertise in debt restructuring and restructuring agreements, as well as in debt capital markets and structured finance transactions.