Italian independent firm Studio Legale Sutti has boosted its Rome presence by acquiring a local public law boutique.

Sutti has taken over Studio Legale Sabetta, a local four-lawyer government and regulatory specialist firm with expertise in public law and lobbying. Sole partner Mauro Sabetta has become a Sutti partner with the three other lawyers joining Sutti as associates.

Sutti has also hired a leading Rome-based civil procedure professor as a new partner. Bruno Sassani is an experienced litigation lawyer who has worked for many years in the Italian Supreme Court.

The hires are part of a move by the firm to build a substantial Rome office, which was operated as an administrative annexe to its Milan headquarters until this month when it moved into new, larger premises in the Palazzo Bourbon-Artom.

The new Rome office, opened on 16 April, now has 10 lawyers, but Sutti plans an intensive recruitment campaign, which is being overseen by partner Eleonora Ballarino, who has relocated to Rome from Milan.

Managing partner Stefano Sutti told Legal Week: "We are specifically concentrating on regulatory and governmental matters. This development is important as Italy will become the gateway between Eastern and Western Europe as the East increasingly needs access to quality legal services."

Sutti has invested heavily in Eastern Europe and is planning to build up the practice when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic enter the EU as full members in 2004. The firm has six offices in Italy, as well as offices in London, Tokyo, Belgrade and Sofia.