DLA Piper has hired a team of nine lawyers from Ashurst in Italy little more than a week after five of its lawyers quit to launch Dentons' Milan office.

The Ashurst team, spread across Rome and Milan, includes three partners and six lawyers, with all nine joining the restructuring and litigation practices.

The team is led by Ashurst Rome partner Francesco De Gennaro (restructuring) and includes Luca Magrini (restructuring) and Alessandro Lanzi (litigation), who have joined DLA Piper as partners but were counsel at Ashurst. They are joined by senior associate Francesco Manzari, associate Martino Liva and trainee Anna Ferrari (all restructuring), as well as senior associate Luisa Gatti and associates Andrea Bellenchi and Flavia Volpi (all litigation).

DLA's Italy litigation team is led by Stefano Modenesi, while the restructuring lawyers will work closely with Nino Lombardo, head of finance & projects group in Italy.

De Gennaro previously worked at Italian independent NCTM before joining Ashurst and has worked on some of the most significant debt restructuring and recapitalisations of Italian companies in recent years.

Magrini, formerly of Linklaters and BonelliErede, has experience in debt to equity swaps and distressed M&A transactions. Alessandro Lanzi handles the judicial aspects of bankruptcy proceedings and has substantial experience in contentious banking, finance and insurance matters.

The new additions take DLA Piper's Italian lawyer count to 169, including 43 partners.

Earlier this month Dentons launched its first Italian arm with an office which included five lawyers appointed as partners from DLA. The team is led by DLA Piper's former managing partner of Europe and Africa Federico Sutti, who will become Dentons Italy managing partner.

Real estate partner Sutti previously spent 16 years as DLA Piper's managing partner for Italy.