Withers has signed its fourth new Italian practice group head in the space of five months, taking King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin's (KWM) Andrea Luciano on to lead the financial services and investment funds team in its Milan office.

Luciano, who headed up the Italian financial markets group at KWM, specialises in capital markets and debt matters, securitisation transactions and private equity, venture capital and hedge fund formation.

Between Withers' Milan and Padua offices, the total number of Italian fee-earners at the firm  has risen 30 with Luciano's appointment, supplemented by Italian desks based across the firm's offices in London, New York, Geneva, Zurich and Asia.

According to KWM's website, the departure of Luciano will leave the firm's Milan base – its sole Italian outpost – with five partners and eight associates.

"Luciano is really important for our target markets of private individuals that want to set up funds in the country," said Withers' Italian practice managing partner Roberta Crivellaro, who is hoping to take advantage of Luciano's dual qualified status in both Italian and English law to tap both inbound and outbound investment and wealth planning work.

"It's a very international firm," added Crivellaro. "This is a hire for Italy, but it definitely fits into our wider strategy as a business."

Luciano is Wither's fourth lateral hire at practice head level since May, when the firm recruited Giulia Cipollini from tax boutique Studio Legale e Tributario Cordeiro Guerra & Associati as head of tax and trusts.

This was followed by the hire of Luca Ferrari, the firm's first dedicated sports law partner, to the position of international head of sports and talent. Ferrari was then joined by new IP team head Ida Palombella and an associate earlier this month.

Crivellaro said the firm's cross-border ambitions were also behind the recruitment of Ferrari, who had a number of existing international clients and had previously worked with Withers' London office.