Andrew G. Paton, an Australian national admitted to practice in Australia, England & Wales and Italy, joined the firm as a partner in 2009, bringing with him a team of lawyers from his previous firm.
Throughout his legal career, Andrew has worked extensively in both common law and civil law jurisdictions. He brings his broad international experience to bear in three main areas: (i) international M&A, joint ventures and trade; (ii) international arbitration and cross-border litigation; (iii) international succession and private client work.
Before joining De Berti Jacchia Franchini Forlani, Andrew was Of counsel with the magic-circle law firm Allen & Overy and a founding partner of the boutique Italian law firm, Barenghi & Paton.
Andrew assists major international companies from common law backgrounds with their business projects and investments in Italy. He also assists Italian clients in their international and local business.
He has far reaching experience in negotiating and drafting international agreements in diverse industry sectors, including those of his long-standing corporate clients in the following areas: automated fare collection for city transit systems (Australia), renewable energy (Taiwan), industrial manufacturers (Italy) including white goods (Italy, China, New Zealand), petrochemical plants (EU), pharmaceutical and medical products (Italy, Taiwan), tourism and holiday resorts (UK), property investment (Australia), market research technology and analysis (USA), health research and diagnostic tools (Italy).
Andrew has been described in Legal 500 and in IAM 1000 as “one of the most in-demand technology transaction lawyers in Rome”.
In the area of international dispute resolution, Andrew has acted as lead counsel and co-counsel in complex cross-border matters before both arbitral tribunals and courts, achieving noteworthy successes including in complex jurisdictional challenges. He has developed skills in coordinating international teams of lawyers, witnesses and experts (engineers, forensic accountants) from different legal cultures, in both arbitration and court proceedings, several of which running in parallel.
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More recently, Andrew has acted as a member of arbitration tribunals and as sole arbitrator in cross-border commercial disputes under the rules of several of the major international arbitration institutions.
In his private client practice, his work has been centred on international successions involving assets located in Italy. He deals on a regular basis with estate planning, will drafting in international estates, issues of applicable law, estate administration in different countries and related litigation.
Andrew is one of the founders of ArbIt (the leading Italian forum on international arbitration) and a member of the editorial board of Rivista dell’Arbitrato.
He is also a member of the following leading international legal and arbitration associations in Italy and abroad:
- ICC Commission on Arbitration (member for Australia)
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London (FCIArb)
- Fellow, Australian Council for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA)
- Associazione Italiana dell’Arbitrato (AIA)
- International Bar Association (IBA)
- International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA)
- Law Council of Australia, International Law Section.
Andrew is a frequent speaker at arbitration law conferences and has published commentaries on Italian developments in arbitration, succession and other international legal subjects.
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Webinar
March 31st, 2022
Andrew G. Paton, Veronica Pulcini
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Webinar ICC Italia
March 16th, 2021
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
October 21st - 23rd, 2019
Armando Ambrosio, Silvia Doria, Bridget Ellison, Massimiliano Gazzo, Andrew G. Paton, Davide Gambillara, Giulia Beneduci, Diego Conte, Giulietta Minucci, Oksana Oleneva, Alisa Pestryakova, Andrea Sonino
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De Berti Jacchia ha assistito vittoriosamente dinanzi alla Corte d’Appello di Roma Anatolie Stati, Gabriel Stati, Ascom Group S.A. e Terra Raf Trans Traiding Ltd (gli “Stati”) nella causa di opposizione a decreto di riconoscimento ed esecuzione di lodo arbitrale straniero in Italia intentata nei loro confronti dalla Repubblica del Kazakistan.
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Rome
October 7th - 12th, 2018
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
September 24th - 28th, 2018
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
September 25th - 29th, 2017
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
June 23rd, 2017
Andrew G. Paton
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Con un’ordinanza depositata lo scorso 15 giugno, la Corte di Cassazione a Sezioni Unite ha dichiarato ammissibile il ricorso all’arbitrato estero in una controversia sulla determinazione del canone di un contratto di locazione ad uso non abitativo regolato dalla legge italiana, espressamente ritenendo abrogato il divieto posto dall’art. 54 della legge 392/1978.
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Rome
April 29th, 2017
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
March 29th, 2017
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
February 23rd, 2017
Andrew G. Paton
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Sidney
November 22nd, 2016
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
September 29th, 2016
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
September 26th - 30th, 2016
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
April 4th, 2016
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
March 31st, 2016
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
September 21st - 25th, 2015
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
March 6th, 2015
Andrew G. Paton
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London (UK)
March 4th, 2015
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
October 9th - 10th, 2014
Andrew G. Paton
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Rome
September 15th - 19th, 2014
Andrew G. Paton
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Hong Kong (China)
March 27th - 29th, 2014
Andrew G. Paton
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London (UK)
March 19th, 2014
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
February 28th, 2014
Andrew G. Paton
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Milan
November 29th, 2013
Andrew G. Paton
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Venice
October 19th, 2013
Andrew G. Paton
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Turin
October 18th, 2013
Andrew G. Paton
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London (UK)
March 19th, 2013
Andrew G. Paton
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Cinque nuovi ingressi nella sede di Roma di De Berti Jacchia Franchini Forlani, guidata dal socio Antonella Terranova: dello studio entrano infatti a far parte i soci Andrew G. Paton e Giuseppe Manzo e gli associate Simona Stramaglia, Emanuela Monteleone e Veronica Pulcini.
Representing a prime UK real estate investment company in a dispute over a sale and lease-back operation regarding a major resort in southern Italy run by a major French global resort operator. The dispute came before both the Italian courts and an ICC Arbitral Tribunal and included complex legal argument on the application of Italian and French mandatory law. The Italian Supreme Court in plenary session held, in an innovative and landmark decision extensively commented on in the legal press, that the Italian Courts did not have jurisdiction over the dispute, thereby allowing the entire case to proceed through arbitration. The Tribunal was called on to determine complex rental indexation mechanisms, alleged breaches of capital expenditure obligations and other essential conditions of a 40-year lease.
Practices
International Arbitration
Domestic and International Litigation
Real Estate and Retail
Industries
Leisure, Sports, Sponsoring and Tourism
Representing a major Taiwanese quoted company in the solar and renewable energy industry. The dispute involved parallel court proceedings in Italy, Luxembourg, Singapore and Taiwan and international arbitration proceedings in Singapore regarding a joint venture, corporate control and the international supply of products. Central questions concerned the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal and of the courts, the validity of a capital increase of the Luxembourg holding, the appointment of ad hoc independent administrators of the 8 Italian subsidiary companies and the recovery of significant investments in the joint venture. The proceedings included interim urgent measures, provisional enforceability, security for costs in arbitration and anti-suit injunctions ordered by arbitral tribunals against courts in other jurisdictions, as well as recognition and enforcement proceedings in Italy.
Practices
International Arbitration
Domestic and International Litigation
Corporate and Commercial
Industries
Renewable Energy
Assisting client in the negotiation and drafting of complex international supply, financing and ancillary agreements for the procurement, supply and financing of major turn-key contracts for petrochemical plants in middle eastern and north African countries. Ancillary agreements include financing agreements, off-take agreements, maintenance and service agreements, general terms and conditions of supply, bank and corporate guarantees, letters of credit, promissory notes.
Practices
International Commercial Transactions
Industries
Industrial Products and Equipment
Assists world leader in automated fare collection technology (AFC) for city transit systems: negotiating and drafting long term hw supply, sw license, maintenance, service, outsourcing agreements with local, regional and national transport providers; assisting in the participation in complex tenders for AFC systems in Italy, EU and the countries of the Mediterranian basin;
negotiating and drafting sub-contracts for equipment supply and sw licensing for innovative mobile ticketing systems, including using apps and mobile technology.
Practices
Corporate and Commercial
Industries
IT&TMT
Industrial Products and Equipment
Private client – International wills and succession
- Assisting English heir of deceased estate consisting of assets in 4 different countries, including advice on domicile and residency of deceased under different applicable laws, international tax advice to reduce estate tax liability and Italian estate administration
- Assisting heir in dispute between beneficiaries, including determination of jurisdiction and applicable law to the succession, reserved shares to certain heirs under Italian law, forum shopping and strategy, assets in 3 countries
- Dispute over the validity of two holographic wills, recovery of deceased estate transferred to ostensible heir, administration of estate, tax advice on rectified succession and property transfers; court proceedings and lengthy settlement negotiations
- Administration in Italy of US reformed will.
Practices
Private Clients
Industries
International succession
See more track records
Recent arbitrator appointments involve the following areas:
- International construction dispute involving the building of a national road in Eastern Europe
- International sale of printing plant to Spanish company
- International agreement to cultivate and import alligator hides from USA
- Dispute over exclusive international agency
- Dispute of exclusive distributorship to India
Practices
Arbitration and ADR
Industries
Construction
International trade
The International Arbitration Review (annual global review)
PATON A.G.
Chapter on Italy,Law Business Research
2011-2018
International Succession
Chapter on Italy
PATON A.G.
Fourth Edition
Edited by Louis Garb and John Wood
Oxford University Press
Third edition published in 2010
Fourth edition published in 2015
Vertical Agreements – National
PATON A.G.
Report for Italy, Global Competition Review
2008-2015
International Kidnapping – the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
PATON A.G.
Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston
2006
National reports for Italy in the IBA newsletter on Arbitration and ADR
PATON A.G.
2003 – 2005
Conciliazione e arbitrato nelle controversie societarie
PATON A.G.
Comment, Associazione Italiana per l’arbitrato on the major Italian arbitration reform of 2003
National reports for Italy in the A&O newsletter on Arbitration and ADR
PATON A.G.
2004
Due Diligence in Corporate Acquisitions
PATON A.G.
Italian national report, in Kluwer/AIJA publication of the same title
1996
The Hague Convention on the Recognition of Trusts: Ratification by Italy
PATON A.G.
Comparative Law Quarterly
1994
Evidence-Taking in Arbitration Proceedings
PATON A.G.
Italian national report in Kluwer/AIJA publication of the same title
1994
