ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Renato Fiumalbi, Simone Barnaba, Alessandra Lucchini and Valeria Daloiso, Eversheds Sutherland
Eversheds Sutherland Via Privata Maria Teresa, 4 Milan Via del Plebiscito, 112 Rome Italy Tel: +39 02 8928 71
Email: simonebarnaba@eversheds-sutherland.it Web: www.eversheds-sutherland.com/en/italy
1. General 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System The Italian legal system is based on civil law. The Constitution is the fundamental law and all other laws and regulations, including those on dispute resolution, shall comply with it. It follows an adversarial model that guarantees the equality of the parties and the right of defence, as required by the Constitution. The legal process is conducted primarily through writ- ten submissions. 1.2 Court System The Italian court system is composed of national courts, dealing with civil, criminal and administrative proceedings. Civil and criminal courts have three levels of jurisdic- tion: • the court of first instance; • the court of appeal; and • the Supreme Court of Cassation. Administrative courts have two levels of jurisdiction: • administrative courts of first instance; and • Consiglio di Stato . Special courts have jurisdiction on other matters (eg, tax).
Civil courts are organised into specialised divisions, including a division dealing with commercial disputes. Judges are autonomous and independent of any other power. 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings Court filings and proceedings are not open to the pub- lic. In some special cases, documents and information filed during the proceedings can be kept confidential even between the parties. Hearings are generally open to the public, but the judge can order otherwise in the cases expressly pro- vided by law (eg, for security reasons). Judgments are public, but personal data is generally With few exceptions, all parties to court proceedings have to be represented by an attorney duly admitted to the Italian Bar Association. The representation before the Supreme Court of Cas- sation is only permitted to attorneys registered in a special section of the Bar Association. removed for data protection reasons. 1.4 Legal Representation in Court Foreign lawyers cannot conduct cases before Italian courts. Special provisions apply to attorneys from other EU countries.
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