TRENDS AND AVERAGESThe performances that have just been archived confirm the growth trend of this sub-category of the national lawyer, which has seen a 29.4% increase in turnover over the last five years. If we count professionals (accountants and employment counsellors also work in many companies) and trainees, there are about 10,240 people who are “employed” in these 50 structures. The average turnover per person is 282 thousand euros. The brands with the highest value in this case are Latham & Watkins with nearly €970,000 per lawyer, followed by Grande Stevens with €627,000 and Cleary Gottlieb with €595,000. While the average income per shareholder (here we have included capital and non-equity partners) was about 1.4 million. There are only two American brands here: Cleary Gottlieb with 5.6 million, followed by the law firm Latham & Watkins with 5.2 million. The firm, chaired by lawyer Francesco Tedeschini, can boast an exceptional year in many respects and especially in the mergers and acquisitions sector, with 60 transactions with a total value of more than 73 billion (see issue 175 of the MAG). According to the survey, the “Big 4” (Pwc, EY, Deloitte and KPMG) occupy 18.8% of the market (in line with 18.6% in 2017), the largest share after 30.8% of large Italian companies (against 31.3% in 2017). According to the legal community, BonelliErede is confirmed as the law firm with the highest turnover in 2018 with 166 million euros, followed by Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli with 145 million and Pwc Tls with 140.3 million. “Pwc Tls` performance is particularly significant,” says Nicola Di Molfetta, Head of the Legal Community, “as it reflects the dynamics of advisory structures, which are once again playing a leading role in the legal services market.” So much so that “of the seven studies that recorded sales of more than 100 million in 2018, three are representative of the Big 4”.

Large consulting and audit firms confirm their leading role in the legal services market. And the most dynamic studies turn out to be almost all of international origin. This is what emerges from the legal community`s estimates of the turnover of the 50 main business law firms in Italy in 2018: a market of 2.38 billion euros, an increase of 6.4% compared to 2017. READ MORE / It is a merger between the law firms BonelliErede and Lombardi With 100 Professionals 2021, the special appendix on this topic, Forbes Italia has selected 100 of the best companies in the legal and consulting world, divided into five different categories: Italian law firm, Italian boutique, tax and legal, foreign law firm and consulting. For each, one or a few key personalities were given, such as the CEOs, the founding partners, the managing partners or the partners and lawyers of the firm, who have distinguished themselves over the past year by particular initiatives or merits, as well as the headquarters of the activity. The photo taken at the national business lawyer gives us the image of an exception to the average situation in which the forensic category navigates. The data on all Italian lawyers comes from a long time ago and tells us that the average annual turnover of an Italian lawyer is 56,592 euros (-6.5%) with an average income of 37,785 euros. Overall, the average turnover of the category decreased by 4.6% (source: Cassa nazionale forense, reference year 2020) to nearly 12.8 billion. If 2020 is the annus horribilis of the professions, 2019 may have been the year of miracles for law firms, with revenues difficult to replicate.

Last year, as confirmed by Legalcommunity, the information platform for legal services for companies, was a year of growth – the sixth consecutive – from the total turnover of commercial law firms in the ranking, which exceeded the ceiling of 2.5 billion euros for the first time, with an increase of about 5% compared to 2018. And compared to 2013, the year of the first research on this topic, the value of the Top 50 increased by 56%. The commercial law sector and the list of the top 50 factors that supported such significant growth in 2021 is the exceptional performance of the business on the corporate finance front, with mergers and acquisitions accompanied in particular by private equity. We must therefore think of the extraordinary reaction that the market gives to the multidisciplinary offer, which rewards, for example, organisations with high-quality taxation and transversal skills organised by industry: a reference is above all what can be done in the fields of energy and infrastructure. The third driving factor for the sector is the trend towards aggregation. Here we don`t see a race to see who develops the most. The processes in which business lawyers organize themselves into articulated and composite structures seem to follow above all a strategic approach, resulting in the attempt to create market subjects (whether large companies or industrial shops) with a defined value proposition, capable of meeting specific needs. Among Italians, immediately after BonelliErede Legance, is the study that marked the strongest growth, with an increase in turnover of 13.1%, for a collection of 95 million euros. DLA Piper, on the other hand, closed the last financial year with a turnover growth of 15.4%, which corresponds to 100.9 million euros, confirming its leading position in terms of turnover among international companies in the country, increasing the number of affiliates in Italy with a Sales increased from more than one hundred million euros to eight. Significant growth also for Andersen Tax & Legal, which enters the Top 50 this year with 12 million sales. The studio, led by Andrea De Vecchi, is the first to experience growth in 2019 with a 50% increase in sales. It follows with +23%, Gattai Minoli Agostinelli with 39.488 million and La Scala, the only company among the stock market lawyers in the Top 50, which closed 2019 with a 20.7% increase in turnover with a turnover of 29.5 million euros.

FFT Fatigato Follieri Teta is a joint venture composed of three historical and recognized legal boutiques in the Midsouth: Fatigato Avvocati Giuslavoristi, Enrico Follieri & Associati, Teta Studio Legale. More than 80 years of history and 15,000 cases have followed for more than a thousand customers throughout Italy. A one-stop law firm with a team of over 25 professionals focused on labour and labour relations, administrative law, commercial law, banking, restructuring and litigation, with recent M&A transactions of national significance. Andrea De Vecchi, Co-Managing Partner Europe and CEO of Andersen Italia, leads a team of tax and legal experts in constant contact with foreign colleagues from Andersen Global`s professional agencies. This exchange guarantees knowledge of the specificities of the markets, the flexibility of investment opportunities in different countries and the choice of jurisdictions. De Vecchi`s experience has made him aware of the recognition of business needs: planning for the future and designing visionary business projects to adapt and take advantage of an increasingly changing and globalized world. Milan Surprisingly, the turnover of commercial law firms was around 200 million euros compared to the previous year, or a total of 2.5 billion euros. Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati is a leader in tax and legal advice and has more than 500 professionals who integrate technical and specialized skills, with the aim of ensuring a wide range of services in tax, corporate and legal disciplines both nationally and internationally. The firm has ten offices in Italy (Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna, Padua, Verona, Naples, Brescia, Parma and Florence) as well as offices in London, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.