Giuseppe Fornari
Professional experience
Founding partner of the Firm, over more than thirty years of practice he has developed his experience and expertise mainly in white-collar criminal law, a field in which he is regarded as one of the leading practitioners at national level.
Before founding the Firm in 2017, he was for twenty-one years a name partner of Studio Legale Orlando e Associati, where he had set up and led the criminal law department.
He assists leading Italian and international credit institutions, insurance companies, companies (including companies listed on regulated markets), small and medium-sized enterprises and multinational groups, as well as individuals. As defence counsel he has taken part in some of the most significant criminal proceedings on the national scene concerning corporate, banking, financial, tax and insolvency offences, international corruption, market manipulation and insider dealing, as well as negligence offences relating to workplace safety and environmental disasters.
He also specialises in corporate criminal liability: he oversees the preparation and updating of organisation, management and control Models pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 and has served as chair or member of the Supervisory Body of numerous companies, including listed ones.
He frequently works alongside the leading international law firms, providing both advisory work and assistance in court.
In the course of his career he has assisted, in sensitive judicial and out-of-court initiatives, the families of victims of particularly prominent crimes, and has provided pro bono assistance to persons harmed by mafia-related offences, usury and extortion.
Academic and teaching activity
He is the author of numerous publications in newspapers and legal journals on white-collar criminal law.
He wrote the Italy chapter of the Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations, published by Global Investigations Review.
Together with Enrico Di Fiorino, he edited the volume “Investigazioni Interne. Poteri, diritti, limiti, responsabilità” (Internal Investigations. Powers, rights, limits, liability).
He is the author of contributions to collective works on, among other things, lobbying and internal investigations, and regularly comments for the specialist press on the main legislative and case law developments in white-collar criminal law.
He takes part as a speaker in the leading national conferences on criminal law.
Education
He graduated in Law from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan in 1993.
Bar admission
He is admitted to practise as a lawyer in Italy and is a member of the Milan Bar Association.
He is admitted to appear before the Supreme Courts.
Membership
Milan Criminal Bar Association (Camera Penale di Milano)
Criminal Justice Committee of the Milan Bar Association
Scientific Committee of the journal Giurisprudenza Penale
Fondazione Chiara Costanzo ETS, member of the Board.
Awards
In 2014, he won the Premio Internazionale Le Fonti in the category Best Professional — Criminal Litigation: “For being an authoritative professional with well-established skills, known for having held prestigious positions in the criminal law sector and for having taken part in numerous trials, bringing prestige to the Firm of which he is Founder and Partner”.
In 2015, he won the Legalcommunity Finance & Tax Awards in the category Professional of the Year, Criminal Tax: “A leading figure among criminal lawyers, he also makes his voice heard in the tax sector. Appreciated by clients and market observers, he has a high-quality client base consisting mainly of international investment banks”.
In 2015, he won the Premio Internazionale Le Fonti in the category Lawyer of the Year — Financial Criminal Law: “For his involvement in complex criminal cases of a financial nature and for proven expertise in offences of false accounting, market manipulation and fraudulent bankruptcy, defending leading credit institutions, listed companies and individuals”.
In 2015, he won the IAIR — London award in the category Lawyer of the Year — Finance Criminal Law — Italy.
In 2016, he won the Legalcommunity Tax Awards in the category Professional of the Year — Best Practice Criminal Tax: “A point of reference in Italian corporate criminal law, he has brought tax matters to play a central role in the Firm’s activity. It is no coincidence that he has been among the criminal lawyers most frequently mentioned and appreciated by numerous tax directors of major companies”.
In 2017, he won the Legalcommunity Finance Awards in the category Lawyer of the Year — Criminal Finance: “«Expert and pragmatic», he has recognised experience in corporate criminal law, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the financial and banking world”.
In 2018, he won the Premio Internazionale Le Fonti in the category Lawyer of the Year — Environmental Criminal Law: “For being a charismatic professional able to represent companies, and their senior management, in the leading criminal proceedings connected with pollution legislation, including on an international scale. For his important contribution to Italian legal culture in this field through dedicated conferences of high added value.”
In 2018, he won the Legalcommunity Corporate Awards in the category Lawyer of the Year — Corporate Criminal Law: “It is a boutique firm of reference in the sector. They are a true excellence on the Italian legal scene and have a deep knowledge of corporate criminal and procedural matters.”
In 2018, he received the award as Best Professional of the Year, Corporate Criminal Law, at the Top Legal Awards.
In 2020, he won the Le Fonti Awards as Lawyer of the Year in the Criminal Law category, “for having handled all the main criminal trials involving leading groups and company managers in the corporate, environmental, financial and tax fields; for being not only a respected lawyer, but a mentor, able to invest in young and brilliant associates, thus embodying the highest spirit of the legal profession”.
In 2023, he won the Legalcommunity Corporate Awards in the category Lawyer of the Year — Corporate Criminal Law: “The lawyer is one of the well-known faces of criminal practice in the Italian courts; he has taken part in the most important trials of recent times, successfully defending the interests of his clients in cases that have attracted media attention”.
In 2024, he won the Legalcommunity Finance Awards in the category Lawyer of the Year — White Collar Crime: “The well-known criminal lawyer is highly regarded in the financial world by both colleagues and clients for his quality track record and for the prominence of the cases he has successfully handled”.
In 2024, he won the Legalcommunity Litigation Awards in the category Lawyer of the Year — White Collar Crime. The award was granted by the jury with the following citation: “The lawyer is a highly successful criminal practitioner who advises numerous clients in Italy in particularly important cases with enormous media coverage due to the parties involved”.
In 2026, he won the Legalcommunity Corporate Awards in the category Lawyer of the Year — White Collar Crime: “A professional recognised and appreciated on the Italian criminal law scene, he took part in some of the leading proceedings of the reference period, standing out for his ability to effectively protect the interests of his clients in complex contexts characterised by significant media exposure”.
