NEW YORK, April 27, 2004 — International law firm Cleary Gottlieb announced today that leading Italian mergers and acquisitions lawyer Roberto Casati will be joining the firm as a partner, effective May 1. Mr. Casati will be based in the firm’s recently expanded Milan office.
Mr. Casati comes to Cleary Gottlieb from Allen & Overy, where he was one of the co-heads of the worldwide corporate practice group as well as the Italian senior partner. His main areas of practice include complex commercial, corporate and securities transactions. In recent years, Mr. Casati has handled some of Europe’s largest M&A and joint venture deals. He also has considerable arbitration experience. Mr. Casati studied at the University of Milan Law School, University of Michigan Law School and Columbia Law School.
Prior to joining Allen & Overy, Mr. Casati, 55, was a partner at Brosio, Casati e Associati, a law firm he co-founded in the early 1980s and that merged with Allen & Overy in 1998. Under Mr. Casati’s leadership, Brosio, Casati developed into one of Italy’s most prominent law firms.
“Roberto is among Italy’s top corporate and M&A lawyers. His expertise will enhance our highly regarded M&A and capital markets practices in Italy and throughout Europe,” said Cleary Gottlieb Managing Partner Peter Karasz. “We are proud to welcome Roberto and are very pleased that he has decided to join us.”
Cleary Gottlieb is a leader in European M&A and the firm’s lawyers have been active in this practice area since 1950. Today Cleary Gottlieb operates out of eight European locations. Lawyers from the firm’s various offices represent clients in all major industry sectors in both domestic and cross-border M&A and joint venture transactions.
Mr. Casati’s admission marks Cleary Gottlieb’s first lateral partner in 2004. Last year, the firm decided to admit five lateral partners: Lewis Liman in New York; Francisco Enrique González Díaz in Brussels; Dirk Schroeder and Romina Polley in Cologne; and Klaus Riehmer, who will join the firm’s Frankfurt office later this year.
“Despite the number of lateral partners admitted recently, we remain steadfast in our commitment to organic growth – hiring the world’s best law graduates and training them ourselves to be partners and counsel,” commented Mr. Karasz. “Roberto’s joining us continues our practice of admitting exceptional lateral candidates as partners in selected cases only after careful deliberation and where there is consensus among the entire partnership.”
