Compared to the headlines generated last year by the firm’s woes in New York, the top brass at Clifford Chance must have been relieved that the departure of its joint Italian managing partner did not fill quite as many column inches in the world’s business press as the ‘padding’ scandal.
In the Italian legal market, however, the departure of Luigi Chessa for an in-house role at Standard & Poor’s was big news. Aside from his prominence as the firm’s joint managing partner – a position he held for just six months – Chessa was also CC’s leading light in securitisation following the departure of Francesco Novelli in early 2002. Worse, Chessa was the latest in a line of high-profile partners CC had lost in Italy since its merger with Grimaldi e Associatis in October 2000. Five others, including founder Vittorio Grimaldi, had quit the previous year to launch a new firm under the Grimaldi name.
