Freshfields quartet quits Milan office to join Italian boutique

Corporate partners Mario Ortu and Nicola Barra Caracciolo, together with senior associate Paolo Canal and consultant Stephen McCleery all joined Orsingher as partners on 1 January to establish the firm’s corporate practice. They have brought with them a team of three associates and two trainees.

Orsingher was set up by former Freshfields IP partner Matteo Orsingher in 2007 (21 June 2007) and has since expanded with hires from Dewey & LeBoeuf, prior to the US firm’s dissolution (5 July 2011). Most recently one of the name partners of Italian TMT boutique Portolano Colella Cavallo, Domenico Colella, also joined Orsingher to set up a Rome office (18 April 2012).

The firm will now be known as Orsingher Ortu - Avvocati Associati.

Orsingher said the addition of a corporate team was “a strategic step forward for our firm which responds to our clients’ demand for additional, value-added services and is fully consistent with the evolution of the Italian marketplace”.

Ortu said the teams would continue to focus on their respective practice areas, working together where possible.

A Freshfields spokesperson wished the team well.

The hires bring the number of lawyers at Orsingher to more than 20.