Hogan Lovells Publications
Getting The Deal Through M&A Litigation 2018 – Italy Law Business Research
September 2018
Francesca Rolla
Partner, Milan
Email francesca.rolla@hoganlovells.com
Phone +39 02 720 2521
Fax +39 02 72025252
LanguagesEnglish, Italian, French
Practice groupLitigation
Francesca Rolla heads Hogan Lovells Studio Legale’s life sciences team, which ‘perfectly knows the global market’.
Legal 500 2015 - Healthcare and Life Sciences
With over 25 years' experience, Francesca Rolla's activity spans almost all areas of contentious work (from product liability litigation, mass torts and white collar crimes to corporate and commercial litigation) across industry sectors as diverse as life sciences, automotive, insurance and consumers goods. She is the head of our Italian Litigation practice and of the Investigations, White Collar & Fraud group in Italy. She is also one of the Litigation practice's primary liaisons to the firm's global Aerospace, Defense, and Government Services sector team.
Be it a corporate dispute, a class action or a complex commercial litigation, domestic or cross border, before State courts of Arbitral tribunals, Francesca is at the forefront of Italian litigators, with the ability to "translate the obscure Italian proceedings into easily understandable language". Drawing on her extensive experience in product liability and mass tort litigation and in non-contentious advice (such as on product safety and product compliance), combined with industry expertise, Francesca also advises on remedies and strategies to manage potential exposure to criminal or regulatory investigations and assists in conducting internal investigations, representing clients before regulatory or criminal authorities when investigations are eventually commenced.
Francesca is ranked as Leading Individual in Chambers, Legal 500, and Who'sWho Legal for Dispute Resolution, Life sciences and Product Liability. She won the 2015 Euromoney LGM European Woman in Business Law Award as best in Product Liability and the 2014 ILO Client Choice Award for Product Liability. She is listed as Life Science Star for Italy by LGM Life Sciences.
Awards and recognitions
2018
Industry focus: Healthcare and life sciences, Leading Individual
Legal 500 EMEA
2015
Woman in Business Law Award for Product Liability
Woman in Business Law Award
2014
Best lawyer for Product Liability in Italy
ILO Client Choice Award
2015
"Clients assert that Francesca Rolla 'knows the peculiarities and is able to translate the obscure Italian proceedings into easily understandable language'."
Chambers Global
2015
"Head of department Francesca Rolla is described by sources as an 'experienced life sciences adviser - very knowledgeable, skilled and reliable'."
Chambers Europe - Life Sciences
2015
'Co-operative, prompt and precise’
Legal 500 - Dispute Resolution
2015
" Francesca Rolla heads Hogan Lovells Studio Legale’s life sciences team, which ‘perfectly knows the global market’.
Legal 500 - Healthcare and Life Sciences
2014
Francesca Rolla ‘combines legal knowledge with a practical and business-oriented approach’
Legal 500 EMEA
2014
'She is a good presenter and has a human touch, and is very convincing in terms of how she brings the arguments across'
Chambers Europe
Education and admissions
Education
Law Degree (Magna cum laude), Università Statale di Milano, Milano, 1988
Department of Economics and Political Science University, College of London, 1985
Memberships
International Association of Defence Counsel ("IADC")
International Bar Association (IBA)
Representative experience
Product litigation and compliance assistance for major U.S. and European lifesciences companies, including advice on criminal investigations and proceedings
Defending companies in a range of industries (automotive, chemicals, consumer goods, electronics, tobacco) in individual and multi-party product liability claims
Successfully assisting a leading tobacco manufacturer in the first product-related class action filed in Italy
Assisting a American multinational technology company with internal investigations and defence in the pending criminal investigations
Defending a Fortune 500 multinational in product compliance criminal investigations and in the parallel proceedings before the Italian Regulatory Safety Authority
Representing a German renewable energy company in criminal investigations (including money laundering, fraud, violation of public regulations on building permits)
Assisting clients of different industries (automotive; chemical; consumer, life sciences, luxury) in contractual disputes (distribution, supply and agency agreements)
Representing clients in diverse industries (energy, infrastructures, IT, luxury, consumers goods) in post M&A arbitrations for breach of Representations and Warranties
Assisting an international manufacturing company in two follow on actions brought before the Courts of Bologna and Genoa by more than 70 companies claiming damages
Assisting a beverage corporation in a complex commercial dispute in Italy and abuse of dominance, breach of contract and millionaire debt recovery
Advising a world leader company in transport and energy infrastructure in respect of bribery and corruption carried out by employees of the company seconded abroad
Defending a University in a landmark litigation over ownership of an estate in Italy, over 800m US$ worth, bequeathed to our client
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