Bryan Cave withdraws from Milan as local partners defect to Grande Stevens

At the same time Grande Stevens has lost seven partners from its Turin office to rival Pedersoli e Associati as the latter continues to bulk up in the city.

Bryan Cave chairman Don Lents said in a statement: “Our Milan partners will continue their practice in Milan, in cooperation with Bryan Cave, but as part of the Grande Stevens Studio Legale Associato firm. This new arrangement will allow our former Milan partners to align their practices along the lines of law firm structures most often found in the Italian legal market.”

Lents said the Milan partners - co-managing partners Paolo Barozzi and Fulvio Pastore and partner Luigi Zumbo - would continue to work on the matters they are currently handling.

“Our other European offices in Hamburg, Paris and London will continue as they are currently structured,” Lents added.

Meanwhile, Pedersoli partner Andrea Gandini said the arrival of the Grande Stevens partners in Turin completed the initial growth of the office, which opened last year.

“We had some strong lawyers in Turin but with the new additions we’re really a full-service office,” said Gandini. “For us this is important because it’s the completion of the Turin project from a staffing point of view.”

The lawyers joining Pedersoli in Turin include equity partners Mario Napoli and Eugenio Barcellona together with junior partners Antonella Valenti, Romano Valentini, Alessandro Tufani and Alberto Valfrè. IP specialist Sergio Speranza joins as an of counsel. The team also brings two associates to the firm.

Gandini himself joined Pedersoli from Grande Stevens in February 2010 together with fellow equity partner Marcello Magro. In November 2010 equity partner Carlo Re also moved from Grande Stevens to Pedersoli in Turin.

Turin remains Grande Stevens’ largest office. Nobody from the firm could be reached for comment.