UK growth in Italy

Three City law firms have bolstered their Italian practices as part of an ongoing strategy to establish bases in major European countries.Eversheds and CMS Cameron McKenna have taken the first steps towards merging respectively with 12-partner business law firm Piergrossi Villa Bianchini Riccardi and 19-partner corporate and tax firm Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni, both of which have offices in Rome and Milan.

Meanwhile, Simmons & Simmons has established a third office in Italy by fully merging with Padua-based two-partner firm Studio Legale.

Simmons, which has had an association with the firm for two years, already has offices in Rome and Milan.

Victor Semmens, head of international at Eversheds, said: 'We are looking to turn the firm from a national to a pan-European practice and see Italy as an important step in doing this.

We expect a full merger to take place in the next three to five years.'He said Germany and Spain would be the next countries targeted for expansion.Camerons partner Richard Taylor, chairman of the CMS network, said the expansion of business and liberalisation of the economy made Italy the third most important country - after France and Germany - for UK firms to have a presence in.'We will be working on achieving operational integration with Adonnino over the next 12 to 15 months, with a possible merger sometime in the future,' he said.

'We will also be trying to identify a suitable Spanish target over the next year.'Andrew Towler