International insurance law firm, DAC Beachcroft has announced a number of new appointments and the opening of two new offices in Italy.
In London, Insurance and Professional & Financial Disputes expert Simon Konsta of Clyde & Co has joined DACB as a partner, also taking on the role of International and Business Development Lead in the firm’s Global Insurance practice.
Konsta has been a leader in Professional & Financial Lines in London for 25 years, advising IT consultants, accountants, auditors, actuaries, architects and engineers, directors & officers, surveyors and valuers, and other professionals.
He has acted on a number of landmark professional negligence actions and amassed extensive experience of multi-jurisdictional commercial insurance and professional liability disputes.
Between 2016 and 2019 Konsta served as Senior Partner and Chair of Clyde & Co’s Global Management Board and was previously Global Head of Insurance.
He was also Senior Partner at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert before its merger with Clyde & Co in 2011, overseeing the merger and subsequently spearheading international growth at Clyde & Co.
“I relish the opportunity to work with DACB internationally, including their highly regarded professional liability team,” Konsta commented. “We are likely to see complex and challenging claims flow from the current economic headwinds which, in turn, tend to lead to professional negligence claims. There are great opportunities ahead and I’m looking forward to helping DACB take a leading role on them and develop their platform.”
DACB is also welcoming Anthony Perotto, Guido Foglia and Michele Zucca as the firm continues its international expansion with the opening of new offices in Milan and Rome.
Perotto joins as lead partner and is one of the highest ranked Italian insurance lawyers in Chambers Europe. Foglia and Zucca join as specialist insurance partners alongside a team of five associates who are joining from NCTM’s Insurance and Reinsurance Practice.
The three new partners have extensive experience in advising and assisting insurers on complex coverage and liability litigation and arbitration, coverage advice, and claims handling.
They also regularly assist insurance industry players on a broad range of non-contentious matters, including advisory and regulatory work, compliance, development and creation of policy wordings, distribution and intermediation, corporate and transactional matters.
With new offices in the heart of the two main Italian cities, DACB is one of the first international insurance law firms to establish a permanent presence in Italy.
DAC Beachcroft’s Managing Partner, David Pollitt, said: “Italy is absolutely key to our insurer clients, but for us as a business, it is so much more. Whilst we are seizing the opportunity to expand and diversify our existing offering to our main insurance clients in Europe, we are also adding new advisory and corporate regulatory capabilities in a key European jurisdiction. This complements our existing European offices and supports our goal of being a one-stop shop for our clients.”
Perotto commented: “Guido, Michele and I have worked closely with a number of highly experienced lawyers at DACB and we have the greatest respect for them and for the excellent service they provide to their clients in the global insurance market. We are confident that by joining forces with DACB, we will be even better able to meet the increasingly complex and international needs of our clients.”
