The law is about people’s lives

Civil law rarely makes the front pages. It lacks the spectacle of the criminal trial and yet, sooner or later, it enters everyone’s life: family relationships, work, the home, contracts, business, health, and the consequences of a loss unjustly suffered. It is also one of the places where, case after case, the evolution of society is accompanied and people’s rights take concrete shape.

I have practised law since 1995. Over these years I have watched justice and the legal profession change profoundly. Formalities, procedures and reforms have multiplied — reforms born to simplify and accelerate, which have not always made it easier to obtain a decision attentive to the substance of the problems. In this context I consider it all the more important to preserve the independence of the lawyer: a profession that must certainly be organised efficiently, but which cannot be reduced to an ordinary business.

I believe in advocacy that is competent, free and accountable. That means studying rigorously, understanding before judging, saying clearly when a case is not worth bringing and recognising, instead, the questions worth fighting for to the end. It also means building with the client a relationship founded on trust, on collaboration, and on the awareness that the quickest solution is not always the fairest one.

Justice can be slow and imperfect, but that does not make it pointless to seek. Experience has taught me that a well-founded claim, supported with preparation, clear thinking and determination, can still be vindicated. Sometimes one must wait; sometimes it is necessary to stand up to economically stronger parties, or to readings of the law that have simply become habitual. It is also through these battles that the law moves forward, and a protection born from an individual case can acquire a more general value.

When that happens — when a wrong is actually put right and a person recovers what had been unjustly denied — you understand why, despite everything, being a lawyer can still be the finest job in the world.

The path

I graduated with full marks from the University of Trento, with a thesis on the civil and criminal liability of employers for accidents at work. I have practised in Trento since 1995, building my work around civil liability and damages; I am admitted to practise before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation and the other superior jurisdictions.

For over twenty years I also acted as trusted counsel (fiduciario) for insurance companies, before devoting myself to representing injured parties: I know from the inside the logic, the timing and the strategies of those on the other side of the table. It is a dual perspective that makes a difference, in negotiation as in court.