Founding partner takes down Bakers Bologna

Baker & McKenzie has lost its Bologna office six years after it launched in the Italian city with a local merger.

Office head Giorgio Bernini will leave Baker & McKenzie, taking a four lawyer team with him including arbitration and litigation partner Anna Maria Bernini.

Corporate associate Filippo Fonzi will join Baker & McKenzie's Milan office but the rest of the Bologna lawyers will follow Bernini at the end of the month.

Baker & McKenzie launched in Bologna in 2002 with a merger with Studio Legale Bernini, the law office of competition specialist Giorgio Bernini.

It is thought that Bernini will reopen his old firm when he leaves. The split leaves Baker & McKenzie with Italian offices in Milan and Rome.