City firm DLA has announced the latest move in its Italian expansion with the opening of an office in Rome.

The move follows DLA's merger with the Italian branch of international firm Coudert Brothers, which saw the opening of a Milan branch last October.


The new office will house nine lawyers who will be headed up by two partners, Francesco Cerasi and Roberto Pera, bringing the total number of DLA's Italian lawyers to 50, including seven partners. Mr Cerasi will move from DLA's Milan office, while Mr Pera moves from local law firm Vassalli, which has offices in Rome and Milan. An additional two new lawyers will arrive when the office opens in September.


A DLA spokeswoman said it had planned to open a Rome branch since it first set up shop in Milan. 'Rome is a very important area for a fair number of our clients out there,' she explained.


DLA managing partner Nigel Knowles said: 'The Italian market has always been important to DLA's long-term strategic vision and our practice in Milan has performed extremely well since it became part of DLA.'


DLA now has offices in 21 countries across the globe. Last week, it announced its German expansion with a new office in Cologne. However, the spokeswoman declined to comment on speculation that the firm is in talks about a merger with US firm Piper Rudnick.


Fifteen firms with offices and England and Wales have now branched out into Italy, according to latest Law Society figures.