Linklaters has instructed fellow magic circle firm Slaughter and May to advise in relation to the firm's professional negligence dispute with banking giant Credit Suisse and Linklaters' subsequent related claim against former Italian alliance partner Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners.

Linklaters has appointed Slaughters dispute resolution partner Deborah Finkler to defend the firm against the €136m (£115m) claim brought by Credit Suisse earlier this month, which relates to advice given by the magic circle firm to the bank on a bond deal with Italian food company Parmalat nearly 10 years ago.

Finkler is also advising on the subsequent claim Linklaters filed against former alliance partner Gianni in the Admiralty and Commercial division of the High Court on 10 March. Slaughters is advising Linklaters alongside Italian independent Bonelli Erede Pappalardo.

Clyde & Co, which had previously been advising both Linklaters and the firm's insurers, will continue with its mandate to advise Linklaters' insurers in relation to both claims.

The claims relate to advice Linklaters gave Credit Suisse on a 2001 bond deal with Parmalat, before the company went into administration in 2003. Capital markets partner Simon Firth advised on that deal, taking advice from then Italian alliance partner Gianni.

Linklaters' claims against Gianni include claims against the firm and a number of individuals, including former UK managing partner Bruno Bartocci, now a partner at Legance in Italy, and former London associate Andrea Platania.

Court documents reveal Credit Suisse's claim against Linklaters was filed by the bank's London-based litigation head Damian Mark Bisseker. The claim form states that the action is being brought for damages for breach of the duties of skill and care owed by the defendant to the claimant in tort, and/or for professional negligence in 2001 and 2002.