White & Case closes in Milan, pulls out of Italy
White & Case closes in Milan, pulls out of Italy" />White & Case will close its Milan office at the end of November, pulling out of Italy altogether.
Sean Geary, managing partner for Italy, will relocate to New York once the 15-lawyer Milan office shuts its doors for good next month. The move comes three years after the firm closed its Rome office in 2005. In the same year, Geary was flown in to Italy from New York to manage the practice.
The firm said in a statement: "White & Case has periodically reviewed its position in the Italian market since opening there. It was concluded in the most recent of these reviews that the level of investment required to reach the position in Italy that the firm requires of its operations in any market was beyond that which is in the best interests of the firm as a whole."
The closure marks the end of White & Case's turbulent seven-year spell in Italy. The firm entered the market in 2001 via a merger with local firm Varrenti & Associati.
Name partner Alessandro Varrenti split from the firm in 2004, taking two local partners with him. Later that year White & Case tied up with private equity firm Morano e Asssociati, led by Alberto Morano, who is now a partner at SJ Berwin.
