Ernst & Young law firm to adopt Andersen structure

The former managing partner of Andersen Legal in Italy is overhauling the structure of Ernst & Young's Italian legal arm after the two firms merged.

Francesco Marotta took over as managing partner of Ernst & Young law firm Studio Legale Tributario as part of a deal that saw him take 95 Andersen Legal lawyers into the merger. Just 20 former Andersen lawyers opted to stick with an earlier deal struck with Deloitte & Touche

The Ernst & Young practice now has more than 300 lawyers and 12 offices throughout Italy, but is facing an urgent need to integrate

Marotta will present a new structure to the firm this week, establishing 10 different service lines to replace the office structure. They are general corporate, M&A, labour, antitrust/regulatory, intellectual property and IT, banking and finance, public law, real estate, litigation, and arbitration/supreme courts. The structure is entirely new to the Ernst & Young practice, which was previously run office by office. However, it is similar to that used at the smaller Andersen Legal practice

A mix of former Ernst & Young and Andersen partners have been appointed to head the new groups

As an interim step, Marotta has also appointed partners to focus on four groups of offices that are in particular need of integration. The groups are Bologna-Florence, Turin-Genoa, Padua-Treviso-Verona and Marche-Abruzzo. Marotta said he expected these groupings were a short-term step, while the firm's new national structure is developed. "In two years we'll just have service lines," he said

The firm's other offices are in Milan, Rome and Naples. Clients include Ferrari, Enel, Poste Italiane, Merloni, Hugo Boss and Credit Agricole.