Leading Italian law firm Chiomenti has absorbed Brussels and Rome EU law and competition boutique EJC Roberti & Associati.

The deal will see EJC's three partners and their teams join a new EU law department being set up by Chiomenti.

It brings to a close EJC's 20 years of practice as a boutique, with the two sides pointing to increased harmonisation of competition, corporate, tax and financial services law and regulation among the EU 27 as the spur for talks, which resulted in EJC's full integration into Chiomenti.

EJC was the only standalone Italian boutique solely dedicated to European law.

Chiomenti partner Gian Michele Roberti will lead the new EU law department, working with Brussels–based competition partner Cristoforo Osti and EJC partners Guido Bellitti and Marco Serpone, who are joining the firm in Rome, and Isabella Perego, who will join Chiomenti’s Brussels office.

It has been a busy period for Brussels competition boutiques. In January, Damien Geradin left Euclid Law, led by Oliver Bretz, to set up 11-lawyer Geradin Partners. 

Both senior competition lawyers had previously practised at international law firms: Geradin at Covington & Burling and Bretz at Clifford Chance. 

Meanwhile, Chiomenti is celebrating its second team hire this year, having grown its finance practice in January with the arrival of a seven-lawyer team from Orrick, led by Gianrico Giannesi, in Rome.

And elsewhere in Italy, Bird & Bird has announced the hire of Giuseppe D’Agostino as co-head of its international financial regulation practice. 

D’Agostino formerly worked at the Italian Financial Services Authority (Consob) in various senior management roles, where he played an active role in Italian and EU policymaking on financial innovation, including fintech, as well as mainstream work in the asset and investment management sectors, alongside general banking regulation.

Bird & Bird chief executive David Kerr said D’Agostino, who is an of counsel, would be in charge of further developing the firm’s fintech-related business, alongside London partners Joss Hargrave and German partner Michael Juenema