Leading Italian independent Chiomenti has overhauled its management structure and appointed a new co-managing partner in a move it says helps give the firm a stronger institutional structure.

Under the changes, senior partner Francesco Tedeschini steps up to become chairman and finance and regulated entities department head Gregorio Consoli joins existing managing partner, M&A heavyweight Filippo Modulo, as co-managing partner.

They are joined in a new strategic committee by tax specialist Massimo Antonini and banking and finance expert Giulia Battaglia, the only woman on the leadership team. The committee has a three-year term.

Tedeschini said welcomed the move as "a further step towards the institutionalisation of our firm".

The firm said the revamped management structure reflected its desire to consolidate its leadership role in the Italian market. It also pointed out that Consoli is 60, Modulo is 50, and Consoli is 42, the trio thereby representing different sections of the partnership.

Modulo said: “This is a strategic committee representative of three generations of professionals, which is in office for a three-year term with a ten years’ forward-looking spirit and a strong ambition to continue the firm's growth and positioning at the top of the market."

Consoli  added: “The next three years will be dedicated to building the firm on its skill and talent.” 

Tedeschini, a corporate M&A veteran, has been with Chiomenti for more than 30 years, becoming senior partner in 2018. Modulo, who joined the Rome-based firm in 1997, has served as managing partner since 2015. Throughout his near 25-year long career with Chiomenti, he has advised clients in more than 113 transactions for a value exceeding €182bn. 

Consoli’s practice, meanwhile, focuses on advising both Italian and international institutions including banks, funds and asset managers on regulatory matters concerning the structuring and execution of financial transactions. 

Aside from its two offices in Rome and Milan, the firm currently has six international branches located in London, Brussels, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and New York. 

Last year, it absorbed Brussels and Rome EU law and competition boutique EJC Roberti & Associati, a deal that added three partners and their teams to a dedicated EU law department set up by Chiomenti. 

That deal was sealed hard on the heels of a seven-lawyer team hire from Orrick in January 2020 that included the US firm’s former Italy head of banking and finance. The new arrivals boosted Chiomenti’s finance and regulated entities headcount up to 70 lawyers.

Leadership transition is a priority for a number of leading independent law firms, particularly those built around influential founders.

In January, Aluko & Oyebode’s co-founder Gbenga Oyebode – a leading Nigerian business figure in his own right – stepped down as chair, ushering in a new leadership team at the top national firm.

And in September, Xiao Wei, the founder of top Chinese firm JunHe, announced he was stepping down and ‘passing the torch’ to the next generation of lawyers.