Fulvio Italiani, recognised by Latin Lawyer with the prestigious "Law Firm Leader of the Year" Award  

January 25, 2024

British legal publication Latin Lawyer has announced that Venezuelan lawyer Fulvio Italiani, Managing Partner of D’Empaire, will be recognised with the prestigious "Law Firm Leader of the Year" award for 2024.

According to Latin Lawyer, Fulvio Italiani is "a formidable law firm leader" with "an outstanding reputation among his clients, colleagues and competitors, who all consider him to be one of Venezuela’s leading corporate lawyers. Beyond his work in Venezuela, Italiani is a highly respected figure in the Latin American and international legal markets."  Latin Lawyer adds that "D’Empaire has established itself as Venezuela’s leading law firm, recommended for a total of 13 practice areas."

Fulvio specializes in corporate, mergers and acquisitions, energy, and finance law. He has participated in most of the significant acquisition, financing and oil and gas transactions taking place in Venezuela in the last years.

Before becoming a partner at D’Empaire in 1997, Fulvio worked as an associate at the New York offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1993 to 1996. He received a J.D. summa cum laude from Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in 1990.

Fulvio has been consistently ranked as a "Star Individual" and "Band 1" by Chambers & Partners (2019 Venezuela Corporate/M&A and Banking and Finance Rankings, respectively) and as a "Leading Lawyer" by The Legal 500 (2018 Venezuela Corporate/M&A and Banking and Finance Rankings).

He was honored with an award for "Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession" at the 2013 Chambers Latin America Awards for Excellence, in recognition of "his business skills and legal expertise which have been of great benefit to national and multinational companies investing in the challenging economic climate of Venezuela." He has also been named one of "Latin America’s Top 50 Legal Stars" by Latin Business Chronicle.

Fulvio has been continuously recognized as one of the best corporate/M&A and finance lawyers in Venezuela by Chambers Global, Chambers Latin America, The Legal 500 and Latin Lawyer 250, and was included in the list of top Venezuelan lawyers Forty under 40 by Latin Lawyer (2003). He has also been ranked as a Venezuelan leading lawyer by PLC Which Lawyer? and IFLR 1000.

Latin Lawyer has also announced the winner of this year’s International Lawyer of the Year Award, which will be awarded to Conrado Tenaglia, co-chair of Linklaters’ Latin America practice group. According to Latin Lawyer, Tenaglia is "highly reputed for his finance work in Latin America. He has advised issuers and underwriters on securities placements in the US and in the Euromarkets by sovereigns, banks, companies, borrowers and lenders in bilateral, syndicated and structured banking facilities".

The publication has also announced the winner of this year’s Specialist Law Firm Leader Award: Ana Utumi, founder and managing partner of Brazilian tax boutique Utumi Advogados, "a well-known figure in the global tax sphere.

Latin Lawyer will present the awards at its annual awards ceremony at the Hotel Unique in São Paulo on 9 May.