Legance

A sophisticated approach to deliver solutions in line with clients’ business needs.

With around 100 highly-specialised lawyers, the Corporate Finance Department is at the forefront of the industry, assisting corporate clients in the most complex and high-profile national and international transactions completed in recent years.

With exceptional multidisciplinary knowledge the team covers the full range of corporate finance services, providing in-depth advice on M&A (both to listed and unlisted companies) and private equity transactions.

Working closely with multiple practice areas of the Firm, the team supports clients through every stage of a project, from identifying the most effective corporate and tax structures and carrying out due diligence to drafting and negotiating contractual documents and assisting in fulfilling antitrust and other requirements related to regulated sectors, such as banking and insurance.

The most prestigious International Legal Directory Chambers and Partners has awarded the Department Corporate Law Firm of the Year 2019 with the following motivation: “Legance – Avvocati Associati has gone from strength to strength, eliciting praise for its performance on complex transactional operations and highly skilled team members who strike a balance between a commercial angle and legal expertise. Clients, who include leading domestic and international banking institutions and private equity players, particularly value the department’s solution-oriented approach and quality of service.”

A steadfast focus on the protection of client’s interests and a distinguished capacity to deliver sophisticated strategic and pragmatic solutions to the most challenging disputes.

Our experienced Dispute Resolution team is made up of 30 lawyers working from Rome and Milan who assist clients on litigious matters across all industries. We work closely with clients to develop an approach best suited to achieving their objectives and to deliver strategic and pragmatic solutions aligned with those goals.

Our unrivalled highly-specialised expertise, combined with our close collaboration with the other departments of the Firm and our consolidated relations with leading foreign law firms, enables us to provide sophisticated litigation and dispute resolution services across a broad range of legal areas, in relation to national and multi-jurisdictional disputes, on both civil and commercial matters.

Our team offers assistance in the pre-litigation and judicial phases. We work closely with clients to identify the most effective strategies to reach amicable solutions or to gain a position of strength in view of the subsequent judicial proceedings.

We represent leading banks and financial institutions, as well as corporations and funds in complex disputes, including cross-border litigation.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• unrivalled experience in national and international arbitration;
• assistance in corporate disputes arising from ordinary operations or extraordinary transactions;
• assistance in commercial disputes on all types of contracts (agency, supply, public procurement, sale, financial leasing, and consumer contracts, mandates, etc.);
• assistance on energy matters, in ordinary and interim proceedings concerning EPC contracts and O&M agreements, first demand guarantees and performance bonds, corporate and commercial disputes arising from the establishment and management of SPVs;
• in the field of bankruptcy and restructuring law, we advise on the most important bankruptcy, extraordinary administration and composition proceedings. Some examples include: Parmalat, Alitalia, Ilva, Volare, Giacomelli Group, Blue Panorama, Atac, Astaldi, and CMC;
• advice on air navigation law, including enforcement proceedings for the recovery of aircraft, operations relating to breaches of return conditions and registration of aircraft;
• assistance in disputes with independent authorities (CONSOB, AGCM, AGCOM, and the Data Protection Authority);
• assistance in relation to white collars crimes;
• legal services in relation to debt recovery.

A pragmatic and proactive approach, uncommon expertise and a solid organisation make the Department a reference point for clients.

At the heart of our Department there is a group of Senior lawyers who have been working together as a team for many years.

Our lawyers are all committed to analysing legal issues in depth, while adopting a pragmatic approach to find agile and also innovative solutions that align to, and enhance, the peculiarities of each client’s organisation.

Over the years, our team has been trusted advisor to major Italian companies as well as multinational groups in various industries; this is an added-value trait of the team, who has thus developed a sophisticated sensitivity to the dynamics of each market segment and, at the same time, a 360-degree vision that leverages the best practices of each sector.

Our team delivers strategic and forward-looking advice, combining labour expertise with the specialisations of other departments of the Firm, including on Corporate, Regulatory, Tax, Safety-at-Work and Intellectual Property Law.

We are also often involved in international projects and transnational work and have developed consolidated expertise in working in partnership with firms of different jurisdictions, both as coordinators and member of specifically created networks, often being praised for timeliness and exhaustiveness.

Through the use of AI tools and a dedicated shared space available on our servers, we can also assist clients in the automation of their HR documents, as well as in the organisation of their internal know-how in the field of employment and labour.

We are recognised as market leaders by the most important league tables. Among others, Chambers and Partners praised our “pragmatic approach, taking business dynamics into account and helping to develop solutions that are in line with the company’s needs“, with “a clear idea of the strategy to be undertaken and go straight to the goal. They are fast and accurate“.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• restructuring processes including redundancies; in this area we have developed strong expertise in industrial relations and have provided assistance at ministerial tables discussing solutions for situations of crisis;
• M&A transactions, transfer of undertakings and outsourcing processes, both in domestic and international contexts, with a focus on the implications arising from trade union consultation;
• definition of contractual relationships with top management, including incentive and retention instruments and the preparation of non-compete and confidentiality agreements that reflect the prerogatives and needs of each industry;
• definition of the employment structure of start-ups (choice of the most appropriate contract types, classification of personnel, remuneration plans, tax and corporate matters) and assistance in the structuring of sales networks and other external structures (contract for the supply of works/services, network contracts, joint ventures, etc.);
• high-value employment disputes, particularly on sensitive and complex issues such as collective dismissals, actions for the repression of anti-union conduct and for the fulfilment of employment obligations, termination of senior executives, violation of non-compete obligations, employee poaching and other cases of unfair competition.