Italian correspondent counsel for foreign law firms
A firm outside Italy with a client facing Italian criminal proceedings needs counsel admitted here: to appear before Italian courts, to handle requests for mutual legal assistance, to gather evidence located in Italy for proceedings elsewhere, and to give written opinions on Italian criminal law. This page is for instructing firms, not for clients.
What correspondent counsel is instructed to do
| Matter | Content | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Representation | Appearing before Italian courts at every stage | Only Italian counsel may act |
| Precautionary proceedings | Review, appeal, applications to vary or revoke | Deadlines of ten days |
| Surrender proceedings | The Italian side of a European Arrest Warrant | Issuing or executing |
| Mutual legal assistance | Execution of requests and European Investigation Orders | Coordination with the prosecutor |
| Evidence in Italy | Documents, records, witness statements, expert material | Including defence investigations |
| Written opinions | Italian criminal law for proceedings or advice abroad | For court or for the file |
| Asset measures | Seizure, confiscation, prevention proceedings | Frequently the urgent part |
The three situations that generate the instruction
A client with proceedings in Italy. The firm keeps the relationship and the strategy; Italian counsel conducts the proceedings here and reports back. The common failure is instructing too late, after a ten-day deadline has passed.
Evidence or assets located in Italy. Proceedings run elsewhere but the material, the accounts or the property are here. Requests take a route through Italian authorities, and how they are drafted determines whether they are executed usefully or formally.
Italian law as a question in your own proceedings. Whether conduct is an offence in Italy, whether a limitation period has run, what an Italian judgment actually decided, whether a retrial is available. These arise constantly in extradition and surrender cases and are answered by opinion.
Surrender cases seen from the instructing side
Where a client faces surrender to Italy, two fronts run in parallel and only one of them is in your jurisdiction. The executing court will not examine the merits. The Italian measure behind the warrant, however, can be attacked in Italy while the surrender proceedings run — and if it falls, the warrant falls with it.
That second front is regularly neglected, and it is often the more productive one. It also generates the material the executing court does want: the state of the Italian file, whether a retrial is available after a conviction in absentia, what conditions of detention would apply.
How the instruction runs
- Defined scope. What is instructed, what is not, and what triggers a further decision by the instructing firm.
- Direct reporting. To the firm, in English, with the Italian documents and a note of what they mean and what deadline they carry.
- No client contact except as arranged. The relationship stays with the instructing firm unless it decides otherwise.
- Deadlines flagged in advance. Italian procedure is built on short periods, and most of them are not extendable.
- Fees agreed at the outset, by stage, with the framework described in the note on Italian legal fees.
The reverse arrangement
The same relationship works in the other direction. Where an Italian client faces proceedings in another European country, local counsel there conducts the defence and the Italian office coordinates. That model is described in how a correspondent case is run.
Frequently asked questions
Can our firm appear before an Italian court?
No. Representation before Italian criminal courts is reserved to lawyers admitted in Italy. Correspondent counsel appears; the instructing firm retains the relationship and the strategy.
Can you obtain evidence located in Italy for our proceedings?
Yes, through the applicable instrument for mutual legal assistance or a European Investigation Order, and through defence investigations where the Italian code permits them.
Do you provide written opinions on Italian criminal law?
Yes, for use in proceedings abroad or for advice: on whether conduct constitutes an offence, on limitation, on the effect of an Italian judgment and on the availability of a retrial.
Our client faces surrender to Italy. What can be done in Italy?
The measure underlying the warrant can be challenged here while surrender proceedings run, and if it falls the warrant falls with it.
To instruct
A first assessment of an Italian position — stage, deadlines, what is still available — can usually be given within a day of seeing the documents. Initial contact is without charge.