Greenberg Traurig Opens Milan Office

Greenberg Traurig has opened an office in Milan—its fifth office in Europe and 40th outpost worldwide.

Greenberg launched the new office by combining with longtime legal partner Santa Maria Studio Legale, a 50-year-old boutique firm. Greenberg has worked with the Italian firm for 15 years and said all of the firm's partners, associates and staff will remain. Greenberg is also adding two attorneys from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to the new Milan office.

“This is a unique opportunity given our close relationship with Studio Santa Maria and its highly regarded place in the Italian market,” Richard Rosenbaum, executive chairman of Greenberg Traurig, said in a statement.

Two partners from the Italian firm—Luigi Santa Maria and Mario Santa Maria—will be co-managing partners of the new office, which will be known in Italy as Greenberg Traurig Santa Maria. They will be joined by former Freshfields attorneys Marzio Longo and Corrado Angelelli.

Longo led Freshfields' real estate practice group, and Angelelli was a leading partner in the firm's global transactions group.

In total, Greenberg's Milan office will be staffed with about 40 attorneys.

Santa Maria Studio Legale was founded over 50 years ago and serves international clients in matters involving European Union law, international contracts and litigation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate law and finance. Greenberg Traurig and Santa Maria established a relationship in 2005.

“We are extremely proud of what we have been able to achieve for clients together and will now have the capability to do so as one ever-expanding platform,” Luigi Santa Maria said in a statement.

The Milan office is Greenberg's latest international expansion. Its first foray into Europe was in 2002 when the firm opened offices in Zurich and Amsterdam. The firm says it now employs more than 300 attorneys across its European offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and Warsaw.

In a February interview with the Daily Business Review, Greenberg CEO Brian Duffy said revenue in the firm's European offices grew by 60% in 2018.

In addition to its European locations, Greenberg has offices in Mexico City; Tel Aviv, Israel; Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai and Tokyo.