McDermott raid sparks change at Lovells Italy

Lovells has seen a number of changes in its Italian presence following the departure of two lawyers to McDermott Will & Emery.

McDermott, which split from Italian firm Carnelutti last year, will launch a competition capability in the peninsula with the addition of Veronica Pinotti.

Although Pinotti was a senior associate at Lovells, she had responsibility for competition matters in Italy. She joins McDermott as a partner, heading up the competition team. Pinotti is the first competition partner that McDermott has had since the split with Carnelutti.

Office managing partner Massimo Trentino told The Lawyer: “We’ve been searching for a while for a top-level competition partner. We’ve been looking for over a year. We needed Italian capability to tie up with our London and Brussels expertise.”

Pinotti brings with her Milan-based Lovells associate Martino Sforza to McDermott. Lovells has no partners dedicated to competition in Italy.

Lovells is also losing its Milan office litigation associate Alessandra Pistarino, who is leaving the firm in October for personal reasons, and capital markets associate Andrea Penza, who has handed in his notice and is due to leave at the end of summer.

Meanwhile, subject to a partnership vote, Lovells will see SJ Berwin’s Milan-based competition head Gianluca Belotti head its Rome anti trusts and competition practice.