Active in Italy for over 25 years

Max Mara is a renowned luxury Italian fashion house with stores around the globe, including across the United States. The group approached Withers for help with its employment needs, advising on the implementation of employee policies and risk management strategies. We were also pleased to suggest and develop store manager training sessions, and we successfully assisted in defending the company against wrongful termination claims.

We have assisted one of Italy's largest landowners on the financing of a photovoltaic project.

A dispute over an investment in the energy sector and ICSID investment treaty arbitration claim against a European state. Our client is seeking damages for breach of fair and equitable treatment, expropriation and other treaty standards.

Sometimes our litigators’ biggest successes lie in avoiding litigation. At one stage, it seemed that there was no way for an Italian winemaker we represented to avoid a costly court battle after it terminated its longstanding US importer. However, through careful strategic decisions we were able to ease its transition from working with the US partner to its own recently formed affiliate without seeing the inside of a court room.

Withers is proud to have represented global Italian retailer Diesel during the launch of their reinventive new brand DieselReboot. During the launch, Withers worked alongside Diesel's newly appointed artistic director Nicola Formichetti and advised on the brand's new aims to 'rediscover and reactive the DNA of Diesel'.

An Italian luxury yacht builder consulted Withers when it found itself in dispute with a Maltese client over a shipbuilding agreement. This was essentially a contractual dispute involving delay, construction in accordance with strict shipbuilding specifications and a claim for liquidated damages.

Via della Spiga 26 is a beautiful building in the 'golden triangle' of Milan, housing Dolce & Gabbana's flagship store as well as the offices of Tiffany & Co. We helped Thor Equities and Invesco to acquire the site, negotiating with a family who had held the property for generations and were initially locked in dispute between themselves. Our clients and the vendors were grateful for our help in brokering what had seemed an impossible deal.

We advised our client, who was formerly living in the UK, in his relocation to Italy under the new Italian resident non-domiciled regime, which he has been authorized status of. This was the first green light issued from the Italian tax authorities on the newly-introduced regime, made possible by our cross border team in Milan and London.

Our client was an Italian company which supplied customised speedboats for use by the Brazilian Police Force. We represented our client in the recovery of a debt owed by a Brazilian company involved in the transaction.

Italian fashion house Max Mara has a long history of designing luxury couture clothing and has a strong reputation as one of the world's top fashion brands. When their latest campaign involved offering American screen actress Jennifer Garner the opportunity to be the face of their new sunglasses range, Withers was there to assist and provide advice for the agreement.

We acted for the trustees of an estate in advising on a potential claim by the Italian State to the ownership of a Roman era fragment marble relief. The relief was purchased in the 1960s in Switzerland and passed to the state following the death of the purchaser. Having been put up for sale by the trustees, it was spotted at an art fair as being linked to a number of other reliefs that had been seized by the Italian authorities having been illegally excavated in the early 2000s. Withers assisted the trustees in bringing about the restitution of the relief to Italy.

We acted for a leading manufacturer of explosives and specialty chemicals in a long-running dispute over the design rights to multiple warhead systems. In an unusual case, the court had to assess the impact of the alleged infringers’ mental capacity when deciding whether their alleged acts amounted to infringement under the law.

A complex international case has seen us acting in a dispute between parties in Italy and a former CIS region state. The case involves a possible arbitration in Paris over a contract under English law, as well as questions of the English court's ability to grant relief in the case.

We are representing five Italian banks in a jurisdictional challenge to the English courts based on the place where payment had to be made under a confirmed letter of credit.

A team in Milan and London delivered the first successful application for non-dom status in Italy to a client and his family.

Assisted a UK fund manager on Italian tax issues relating to setting up and doing fund raising for a EU investment fund seeking to invest in EU renewable energy companies.