In our legislation, the employer is called to dedicate maximum commitment to contain the environmental impact connected to the company’s activity.
The obligations that our legislation places on all entrepreneurs in this field are also governed by criminal law, so the criminal risk must be faced and managed with the same rigour and competence with which the company faces and manages every risk factor connected to productive activity
In this perspective, we support our clients in the management of criminal risk in its various forms, before reaching the criminal trial.
We therefore assist the company, for example, in the preparation of adequate structures of proxies, even in complex industrial organizations and in the management of every problem of potential criminal impact pertaining to the protection of the environment, also singling out “in the field” the best solution and preventive remedies tailored for the characteristics and specific needs of the client.
The daily life of a company, particularly if it is large, is exposed to a variety of criminal risks, at times not immediately apparent to those without specific expertise in the matter.
There are risks connected to: drafting of company books; relations with the public watchdogs; relations with the public administration in general or with auditing firms; participation in public tenders; management of sensitive data, particularly for companies listed in regulated markets or working in financial markets. Consideration needs to be given to the characteristics of the security positions which fall, for example, on a director with powers as compared to a director without powers or a member of the board of auditors, and which determine substantial differences of behaviour and varying degrees of liability, even in the presence of the same criminal offence.
In this varied and complex panorama of criminal risks typically of a corporate, financial or bankruptcy nature, we help leading Italian and multinational companies, offering criminal legal assistance and a broad range of criminal consultancy services.
In our system, the employer is bound by ever more elaborate and complex obligations to protect workers’ health and safety.
The duties that our system requires each entrepreneur to respect in this ambit are also governed by criminal law, so criminal risk must be faced and managed with the same rigour and expertise with which the company faces and manages every risk factor connected to productive activity.
In this perspective, we support our clients in the management of criminal risk in its various forms, before reaching the criminal trial.
We therefore assist the company, for example, in the preparation of adequate structures of proxies, in order to guarantee the necessary balance between tasks effectively carried out by the individual and the related liability. Furthermore, we support our clients in the management of every problem with a potential criminal impact perttaining to the safeguarding of health and safety in the workplace, proposing solutions and preventive remedies tailored for the characteristics and the specific needs of each client.
One of the principal risks connected to company activity is the management of tax compliance, particularly in a system, like the Italian one, characterized by an extraordinary and in some ways pathological complexity.
The management of tax compliance, even where it is oriented to the respect of the protocol in force, is always liable to create issues of a criminal law nature, especially due to the difficulty of finding a clear boundary between formal breaches of a merely administrative significance and breaches of a kind that entails the type of criminal offence provided for in our legislation.
For years we have been assisting leading Italian and multinational companies in proceedings appertaining to criminal tax law, and we are able to offer specialist support, assisting the company and its directors, managers, or employees in criminal proceedings and guaranteeing the necessary criminal law advice.
D.lgs. 231/2001, introduced a new form of criminal liability for legal entities, which allows a company to be called to respond in a criminal court together with its directors, managers or employees, accused of crimes which are deemed to have been committed in the interest or to the advantage of the company.
The company can avoid the application of fines if, prior to committing the crime, it has prepared an adequate Compliance Programs, which is a series of procedures intended to prevent the committing of crimes, and when the functioning and the observance of the organizational model is entrusted by the company to a supervisory board. Since 2001, “231” has become a reality that companies have to deal with for many reasons: the catalogue of crimes for which the company can be held responsible has steadily increased, until it now includes most of the typical corporate crimes; case law has shown ever greater nonchalance in using this tool, with the result that criminal trials against companies are now a daily occurrence in the courts.
In this scenario, we help companies to prepare their organizational and management Models and we assist them in ambit of criminal proceedings which may see them investigated or accused pursuant to D.lgs. 231/2001.
Expertise
Under Legislative Decree 231/2001, a company and its directors, managers or employees accused of crimes which are held to have been committed in the interest or to the benefit of the company, are criminally prosecuted and, if found guilty, punished with varying fines.
We assist our clients in the preparation of Organizational and Management Models, with the collaboration of an external consultant, formerly responsible for the Internal Audit of leading Italian companies (and currently also president of several supervisory boards pursuant to D.lgs. 231/2001). We are in fact convinced that the criminal lawyer and the expert in corporate control should cooperate for the entire processing phase of an organizational model, because the differing areas of expertise, which complement each other, permit the preparation of organizational models which integrate efficacy in the prevention of crimes and workability with regard to company activity.
In addition, we assist our clients in criminal proceedings where the company is investigated or charged pursuant to D.lgs. 231/2001.
Building permit violation is a type of offence prosecuted both in criminal and in administrative courts, and in Italy it represents a very frequent cause of criminal proceedings.
We offer our clients preventive legal assistance – before the start of criminal proceedings – aimed at understanding all the criminal risks, qualified specialist support and the necessary criminal advice in the matter.
The management of tax compliance, including payment of employee’s social security contributions, can create criminal problems, particularly owing to the difficulty in finding a clear dividing line between formal breaches of an administrative nature and the criminal cases provided for by Italian legislation.
In our experience, on many occasions we have found a certain tendency of the Authorities designated to perform tax inspections to superimpose the administrative aspect with the very different criminal aspect, thus triggering dangerous criminal proceedings.
For years we have assisted leading Italian and multinational companies in proceedings relating to criminal tax law, offering qualified support and guaranteeing the necessary criminal advice in the matter.
In 2012 and 2013, Top Legal magazine ranked our firm as “market protagonist with widespread recognition” in the category “Criminal: corporate/commercial”.
The inefficiency and complexity of our Public Administration provide fertile ground for the spread of phenomena of corruption, which cause numerous criminal proceedings against companies, directors, managers or employees and require greater efforts on the part of honest companies to be able to compete and operate in the market.
We offer our clients preventive legal assistance for the preparation of company procedures in the areas of management of relations with the authorities and “sensitive” matters as regards the risk of corruption and the preparation of anti-corruption protocols in the organizational, management and control models. In addition, we give criminal support to the company’s compliance function department in respect of the content and application of the Guidelines and anti-corruption laws currently in force.
In 2012 and 2013, Top Legal magazine ranked our firm as “market protagonist with widespread recognition” in the category “Criminal: corporate/commercial”.
The management of tax compliance can create criminal law problems, particularly owing to the difficulty in defining a clear dividing line between formal breaches of an administrative nature and breaches to be considered criminal under Italian legislation.
In our experience, on many occasions we have found a certain tendency of the Authorities designated to perform tax inspections to superimpose the administrative aspect with the very different criminal aspect, thus triggering dangerous criminal proceedings.
For years we have assisted leading Italian and multinational companies in proceedings relating to criminal tax law, offering qualified support and guaranteeing the necessary criminal advice in the matter.
In 2012 and 2013, Top Legal magazine ranked our firm as “market protagonist with widespread recognition” in the category “Criminal: corporate/commercial”.
Insider trading and market manipulation are administrative offences, as well as crimes punishable by imprisonment.
The law provides a variety of sentences based on the seriousness of the conduct, ranging from an administrative fine to imprisonment.
We defend the company, its directors, managers or employees accused of crimes which are deemed to have been committed in the interest or to the advantage of the company, and qualified criminal consultancy services.
In 2012 and 2013, Top Legal magazine ranked our firm as “market protagonist with widespread recognition” in the category “Criminal: corporate/commercial”.
In Italy there is a plethora of criminal cases in progress for even the slightest excesses of the limits established by administrative bodies for gas emissions, liquid spills, and waste storage.
We have recognized experience in the management of complex proceedings in the field of environmental disasters and exposure to toxic substances: from the disaster in Valle di Stava, to the “Petrolchimico” trial in porto Marghera, to the environmental issues of Porto Torres, Bussi sul Tirino, Spinetta Marengo.
We offer preventive legal assistance before the beginning of the criminal proceedings, to understand all the criminal risks and prepare defence strategies, and we support companies in the preparation of an organizational, management and control model suitable for the prevention of environmental crimes and in the definition of a sanction system in the event of non-compliance with the measures indicated in the model.
Any accident at work almost automatically triggers a criminal proceedings, which often involves the upper echelons of the company.
We support companies in the creation of a valid and suitable structure of proxies to distribute the liability within the company and transfer some tasks falling on the upper echelons of the company to people who are materially and technically capable of fulfilling them, in order to guarantee the necessary balance between the tasks effectively performed by the proxy and his/her relative responsibilities and, in general, a better management of safety in the company, by empowering people closest to the source of risk.
We assist our clients in the prevention and management of any matter with criminal impact pertaining to safety in the workplace, identifying the best solution tailored to the characteristics of each client.
In 2012 and 2013, Top Legal magazine ranked our firm as “market leader with widespread and consolidated recognition” in the category “Criminal: environmental/health/industrial”.
Each month in Italy a new criminal trial begins, following the death of workers exposed to asbestos. In Italy these cases are entrusted exclusively to the criminal courts: offences and crimes are not prosecuted under administrative law.
Our firm has recognized experience in the management of numerous complex criminal proceedings regarding exposure to asbestos and CVM on the part of workers of leading Italian and multinational companies.
We assist our clients in the management of every issue with criminal impact pertaining to protection of the environment and safety in the workplace, identifying interventions and solutions which take into account each client’s specific needs.
In 2012 and 2013, Top Legal magazine ranked our firm as “market leader with widespread and consolidated recognition” in the category “Criminal: environmental/health/industrial”.
Doing business in Italy means having to manage criminal risk