Practice

In a context where all economic sectors are subject to strong tensions, which are added to a constant inflation of norms, Lawal’s teams have a recognised knowledge of the legal and fiscal issues of the industrial, service and distribution sectors.

In order to respond to these issues, our firm favours an approach based on taking into account the specific situation of our clients and their position in the market, which guarantees real added value in the negotiation and drafting of documents in a complex regulatory and competitive context. 

Lawal assists and advises its clients, whether groups or companies, in the negotiation and drafting of their contracts as well as the disputes they face in a wide variety of sectors, in particular contracts for the provision of services, commercial agency, distribution, franchising and supply, as well as general terms and conditions of sale and purchase, particularly for consumers.

With a presence in France and Italy, experience in many other European countries and an extensive network of international professional partners, Lawal has particular expertise in international trade law (private international law, international sales, etc.).

In a market where opportunities are multiplying to meet new environmental, strategic and economic recovery challenges, but where players must also take into account a high level of normative production and an increase in the complexity of operations, LawaL’s teams provide extensive knowledge of the legal and tax issues that our clients face. 

Our firm assists and represents local and international clients, both institutional and private, in the various phases of the projects in which they participate.

Our teams and their partners are thus able to advise and assist you on all aspects of public and private law, both national and European, in the infrastructure, energy and environment sectors and more generally in major public and private sector projects. 

Our teams have extensive experience in contract law and public procurement, town planning and local authority law in France and Italy, as well as at EU level. 

They rely on an extensive network of local and international partners whenever a multidisciplinary approach is appropriate for our clients.

LawaL’s professionals have acquired significant experience in assisting banks spread throughout their national and international territory and financial companies, assisting them in compliance and corporate governance, with particular attention to the liability of corporate bodies, assisting them in the granting of loans, also syndicated with other banks, and in day-by-day activities including the drafting of standard contracts in the field of consumer credit, leasing and factoring, also in the litigation phase, with other banks and consumers, as well as in the post-merger restructuring of branches and subsidiaries.

In the field of Human Resources, companies are faced with increasingly complex issues with strong implications in terms of costs, liability and image. LawaL is therefore committed to providing clear, precise and pragmatic answers that take into account both legal requirements and operational constraints.

We assist our clients in employment law in the context of their human resources policy, both in individual and collective relations, and represent them in the context of the various disputes in this area.

Our teams also advise and assist our clients on all restructuring operations, risks and their implications in terms of employment law.

Beyond the economic context where the aid and supports for maintaining economic activity and employment linked to the pandemic are coming to an end while inflation is picking up, corporate restructuring remains an essential component of business management.

LawaL’s teams assist their clients in identifying the interests at stake and understanding the complexity of the regulatory and economic framework, in order to best manage their resources and skills, and enable them to build an appropriate action plan. 

Through the experience acquired by our partners with banks, financial intermediaries and companies, LawaL has extensive experience in restructuring operations and insolvency proceedings in general, particularly when transnational interests are at stake. 

This requires the development of individualised strategies, and possibly the setting up of a crisis unit, whether in the context of debt restructuring or formal insolvency proceedings, through teamwork requiring the intervention of complementary skills, in particular in banking law, corporate law and labour law.

The intellectual property field has always been affected by major changes and adaptation due to technological development and convergence of platforms. LawaL’s professionals have gained significant experience in providing advices on issues arising from such changes.

In particular, LawaL’s intellectual property lawyers advice on issues related to the creation, acquisition, use and protection of copyrights, trademarks, patents and industrial designs.

Within the IP rights sector, LawaL advises, inter alia, on:

• the drafting and negotiation of license and assignment agreements
• the drafting and negotiation of co-branding agreements and franchise agreements
• the drafting and negotiation of TV and cinema production agreements
• the drafting and negotiation of agreement related to the synchronization of musical works
• the drafting and negotiation of publishing agreements
• the management of relationships with the Italian Association of Authors and Publishers and other collecting societies
• IP litigation

The occurrence of a dispute often limits the decision-making capacity of companies in the short or medium term. The delays, costs and risks of a procedure are thus a source of uncertainty which penalises their development prospects. These uncertainties are even greater in international matters.

Lawal’s litigation and arbitration teams bring their experience and analysis to bear in all the areas concerned in order to offer a global analysis of the risks and to assist in decision-making. 

We assist and represent our clients in commercial, corporate, labour, insolvency and intellectual property disputes at all stages and at all levels of administrative, judicial and arbitral tribunals.

LawaL also believes that an amicable solution should always be considered before and during any trial. Our lawyers are therefore trained in all alternative dispute resolution methods, mediation or conciliation, and pay particular attention to constantly evaluating the most appropriate legal and procedural solutions at all stages of a dispute.

LawaL regularly assists leading financial and industrial groups in their ordinary and extraordinary corporate management decisions. 

LawaL’s professionals offer strategic advice in relation to corporate tasks and the design of the necessary structures for their extraordinary transactions, seeking to achieve all of the client’s objectives. 

The practice extends to all merger, transformation and demerger operations, including changes of control of the ownership structure of target companies, capital increases as well as public takeover or exchange offers when dealing with listed companies, as well as those corporate transactions necessary in the case of generational transitions.

In order to best meet clients’ needs, assistance is carried out in teams with the Firm’s other professional areas, covering all implications deriving from the raising of financial resources from potential investors and/or the financial structure of the acquisition, including antitrust, tax and labour law profiles of the transaction.

LawaL assists investment funds and/or entrepreneurs in intercepting the best investment opportunities.

The assistance extends to all aspects, including tax, of investment and divestment transactions. 

LawaL’s skills and expertise in corporate, financial, banking, tax and labour law are always involved in a multidisciplinary way. Our aim is to be the ideal meeting platform between SMEs and financial intermediaries, where we assist the former in preparing to meet the latter and vice versa.

The media sector is constantly evolving from both a technological and a regulatory point of view. Often the legislation does not keep up with technological developments so generating uncertainties on the application of the rules. Legal assistance is therefore essential to any company and person operating in this industry. 

LawaL’s media lawyers regularly provides legal support to media operators such as publishers, cinema/tv producers and distributor, talents, TV and radio broadcasters, social media influencers. 

In addition, LawaL provides assistance in favor of companies not operating in the media industry but active in promoting their products and services through marketing and communication activities; in such case, LawaL’s professionals supply legal advice in advertising, sponsorship, product placement regulation and in negotiating agreement with testimonials.

LawaL’s professionals have expertise in all areas of broadcasting and media regulation and in particular with reference to:

• Copyrights, image rights and intellectual property rights (including any issue related to licenses, transfer of rights, production agreements, co-production agreements, publishing agreements etc.) 
• Communication and advertising law
• Information and defamation law
• Media regulation (assistance in the procedure in order to obtain broadcasting authorizations, LCN authorizations, assistance related to the compliance to AGCOM regulation etc.)

In a domestic and international regulatory context that imposes on economic actors increasingly numerous and complex obligations and deadlines, LawaL has the resources and skills to provide an adapted and reactive legal response that enables our clients to anticipate and deal with specific risks and increase their attractiveness on the market and to the public.

Our teams work on all compliance issues, in particular in the field of personal data protection (GDPR), administrative liability of legal entities (Italy), and anti-money laundering or anti-corruption, making available the experience acquired both in assisting companies and internally as DPO, member of the supervisory board (OdV in Italy) and compliance manager.

In particular, Lawal assists its clients in: any compliance process under the terms of the anti-money laundering and anti-corruption regulations, auditing and compliance with the RGPD, auditing and drafting of the Model 231, outsourced DPO mission and member of the supervisory committee (OdV), assistance in relations with the National Data Protection Authority (management of challenges, complaints, etc.), organisation and implementation of protection and warning systems, management of crisis situations.

LawaL’s teams provide advice and litigation in the field of public law for private companies and their associations, but also for contracting authorities and entities, local authorities and public entities.

The firm is involved in all aspects of public law, including national and European public economic law, with the constant aim of facilitating and securing our clients’ activities, to enable them to manage their operations in the best possible way. 

Our teams have consolidated experience in contract law and public procurement, town planning and local authority law. The firm has thus developed specific expertise in the following areas

• Construction (public procurement, PPI) and urban planning
• Management of public property
• Energy
• Environmental law

In an increasingly structured and complex market, with greater specialization of the players and normative inflation, LawaL’s real estate teams have a recognized mastery of the legal and tax issues facing our clients.

Our teams advise and represent local and international clients at all stages of real estate projects (structuring, construction, asset  management). 

They are involved in all asset classes: industrial, tertiary, residential, energy/infrastructure, and agricultural, and in all issues encountered: transactions, financing, development (VEFA, VEFR, CPI), construction (public and private contracts, consortium, subcontracting), leases (BEFA, commercial, professional, residential), management (co-ownership, ASL, AFUL) and taxation, litigation and real estate dispute resolution. 

Our lawyers collaborate with a network of experts (technical consultants, appraisers, legal experts, environmental experts, etc.), maintain a permanent watch on developments in the sector and legal news, and conduct seminars and training sessions

LawaL uses to advise clients active in regulated market contexts.

Its professionals have gained in-depth experience in international contexts and as in house counsel for banks and multinational companies.

We provide assistance to banking, financial and insurance intermediaries, in their relations with the supervisory authorities, in the launch of new products and services and in disputes concerning those topics, including anti-money laundering issues.

We have extensive experience in the world of collective asset management, in particular in the regulatory management of alternative funds.

What we learned assisting our clients in the financial industry is successfully applied in other highly regulated industries such as life sciences, energy, sports, space and in general all those industries that have barriers to entry and supervisory authorities.

Sports law is a sector that is constantly evolving, socially and legally, and involves stakeholders of different natures, from athletes to sports associations and clubs to public administrations. Therefore, there is an urgent need for operators to avail themselves of professionals capable of assisting them in all matters, ordinary and extraordinary, that may characterise their activities. 

For this reason, LawaL proposes to provide a consulting service with a multidisciplinary approach in order to respond to such heterogeneous and sometimes complex requests. 

In particular, LawaL assists its clients in areas as diverse as: 

• the drafting and negotiation of contracts in the field of sports, including contracts for the transfer and sale of the right to the performance of professional athletes and sponsorship contracts, promo-advertising with particular attention to the regulation of the exploitation of image rights
• out-of-court advice;
• legal assistance in arbitration proceedings, proceedings before ordinary justice bodies and sports justice bodies;
• advice and assistance in tax and fiscal matters;
• advice and assistance on labour relations management and personnel administration/management;
• consultancy on corporate governance, strategic development of amateur and amateur sports associations and clubs;
• assistance in the drafting of statutes/articles of association and in the implementation of corporate social responsibility projects and the development of sustainable and inclusive organisational models;
• the drafting of legal opinions pro veritate.

Tax law is central to all activities affecting both individuals and businesses. 

LawaL provides its clients with qualified assistance in all matters of tax law and, in particular, in M&A transactions, structured finance, international tax advice and domestic and international tax litigation.

The professionals of LawaL’s Tax Department have a consolidated experience in assisting companies and, in particular, the Italian subsidiaries of multinational companies and are able to : formulate tax strategies for the corporate objectives, render analysis of different options available, optimise intra-group flows (royalty, dividend and transfer pricing), offer advice on the generational transfer of businesses and family assets, ensure compliance with national and EU regulations in the field of both direct taxes and VAT, permanent establishment, anti-avoidance legislation, transfer pricing and related Advanced Price Agreements.

Lawal offers assistance in tax planning and taxation of specific corporate and shareholding structures, manager incentive plans and transfer of residence, including of individuals, from Italy to abroad and from abroad to Italy.

Lawal also offers assistance in the preparation of statutory financial statements, consolidated group financial statements, both with regard to national and international accounting standards, in the setting up of ‘cash pooling’ systems, and in general for all tax and corporate compliance activities.

The ability to assist clients through interdisciplinary teams set up from time to time ‘ad hoc’ on the client’s needs guarantees the optimisation of the management of the various tax and civil law aspects in every situation, making the most of every possible tax advantage granted by the regulations in force.

Lawal’s Tax Department also offers services for the valuation of companies and participations and the drafting of business plans.