A&O suffers Italian exodus to Linklaters

The stream of lawyers leaving Allen & Overy’s (A&O) Milan office for arch-rival Linklaters increased with another banking associate making the move.

Lilia Lani, who was at A&O for three years, has joined colleagues Gianluca Fanti and Roberto Tazzioli, a senior associate and associate in securitisation respectively, at Linklaters (www.thelawyer.com, 22 March).

They all follow banking and finance partner Davide Mencacci, who joined Linklaters from A&O in January. A&O then suffered a blow, with head of banking Giancarlo Castorino leaving the magic circle firm to join Italian independent MBL & Partners.

Linklaters, meanwhile, has been bulking up in the peninsula in 2007, cherry-picking a two-partner team from Pedersoli e Associati in addition to Mencacci and signing a lease for an 80-lawyer office in Milan.

Mencacci was Linklaters' first Italian-qualified partner since its split with associated firm Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners in 2004.

A&O declined to comment.