Profile
Mariafrancesca De Leo is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Milan office. She focuses her practice on financial services litigation and regulatory enforcement. She has developed significant experience in conducting internal investigations, particularly in relation to market abuse, systems and controls violations, mis-selling, fraud, and corruption, working in close collaboration with criminal law specialists. She also leads litigation and arbitration proceedings for clients across a range of sectors, including financial services, real estate, energy, and diversified industrials.
Mariafrancesca has spent extended periods of her professional career outside Italy. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, she worked at other international law firms in both Milan and London.
Mariafrancesca has been recognized by leading legal publications, including The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners, where she has been described as "an outstanding lawyer, with impressive qualities such as passion, dedication, and the ability to listen and understand clients' needs", noting that she has "considerable experience in financial litigation, corporate, and insolvency matters" and that she is "an excellent lawyer, very prepared and skilled in defining with the client a strategy that is appropriate to the complexity of the case."
Concentrations
- Securities litigation
- Financial services litigation
- Regulatory investigations
- Commercial litigation
الاختصاص
الاختصاص
- Advising a European bank in relation to the implications in UK of the challenge raised by UK hedge fund in relation to the classification as capital of certain hybrid instruments.°
- Assisting Mediobanca in the acquisition of the Swiss systematic asset manager (RAM Active Investment) and providing advice on relevant application of CRD IV.°
- Advising a European bank in relation to a pre-contentious defamation matter, with cross border and market abuse implications, against a major news provider.°
- Representing a European bank in relation to a large number of retail litigation matters which stem from the Swiss National Bank decision to remove the cap between Euro and Swiss Franc exchange rate and the consequences it created for the bank's clients who had invested in related forex.°
- Advising a European bank in relation to rogue employees' misconduct, carrying out relevant internal investigation and dealings with supervisory authorities. Representing the bank in disputes commenced by customers stemming out of the employees' misconduct.°
- Assisting an AIM listed English company in FCA/AIM investigation concerning market abuse.°
- Assisting an Italian asset manager in advice relating to compliance with IDD (Insurance Distribution Directive).°
- °Assisting an English multinational in internal investigation concerning the use of suppliers by the past management in relation to potential allegation of corruption.°
°The above representations were handled by Mrs. De Leo prior to her joining Greenberg Traurig.
التكريمات والأدوار القيادية
- Listed, Best Lawyers in Italy, Litigation, 2023-2024
- Listed, Legal 500 EMEA Guide
- Dispute Resolution, 2023-2025
- "Leading Partners," 2025-2026
- Compliance, 2024-2026
- White-Collar Crime, 2026
- Dispute Resolution, 2023-2025
- Listed, Chambers Global
- Litigation: Highly Regarded, 2026
- Dispute Resolution, 2024-2025
- Listed, Chambers Europe
- Litigation: Highly Regarded, 2026
- Dispute Resolution, 2023-2025
- Selected, Legalcommunity Finance Awards, “Best Practice Litigation and Investigation,” 2018
- Listed, Legalcommunity Finance awards, 2016 and 2017
- Member, Milan Bar Association
المؤهلات المهنية
- B.A., Law, University of Trieste, 1996
- Italy
- Italian, Native
- English, Fluent