NCTM founding partner Gianfranco Negri-Clementi is leaving the firm to set up his own boutique, Negri-Clementi Studio Legale Associato.

Negri-Clementi will leave the Italian firm in February next year, along with one other partner and two associates. He currently holds an of counsel position at NCTM after stepping down from the partnership in 2006.

NCTM was set up in 2000 via the merger of Italian outfits Negri-Clementi Montironi & Soci and Toffoletto & Associati.

NCTM London head Anthony Perotto said: "We do wish Gianfranco every success. We appreciate Gianfranco's wishes, in this phase of his professional life, to focus on non-executive directorships and mandates which are, traditionally, better handled by single practitioners or similar outfits.

"We are all extremely thankful to him for the great contribution he has given – both before and after his exit from NCTM partnership in 2006 at the age of 75 – to the NCTM project and for his help in making NCTM one of the most structured, institutional and yet dynamic players in the Italian legal market."

Fellow founding partners Paolo Montironi and Alberto Toffoletto remain as partners at the firm. The firm currently has 270 lawyers across six offices around the world.

NCTM launched an office in Shanghai in August this year, marking its first presence in the Asia Pacific region.