ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Renato Fiumalbi, Simone Barnaba, Alessandra Lucchini and Valeria Daloiso, Eversheds Sutherland
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. Our legal system follows an adversarial model that guarantees the equality of the parties and the right of defence, as required by the Consti- tution. The legal process is conducted primarily through The Italian court system is composed of national courts, dealing with civil, criminal and adminis- trative proceedings. Civil and criminal courts have three levels of jurisdiction: • the court of first instance; • the court of appeal; and • the Supreme Court of Cassation. Administrative courts have two levels of jurisdic- tion: • administrative courts of first instance; and • Consiglio di Stato . Special courts have jurisdiction on other matters (eg, tax). written submissions. 1.2 Court System Civil courts are organised into specialised divi- sions, including a division dealing with commer- cial 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 public. 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 provided by law (eg, for security reasons). Judgments are public, but personal data is gen- erally removed for data protection reasons. 1.4 Legal Representation in Court With few exceptions, all parties to court pro- ceedings have to be represented by an attorney duly admitted to the Italian Bar Association. The representation before the Supreme Court of Cassation is only permitted to attorneys regis- tered in a special section of the Bar Association. Foreign lawyers cannot conduct cases before Italian courts. Special provisions apply to attor- neys from other EU countries. 2. Litigation Funding 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding Third-party litigation funding is not common in our legal system, but it is gaining ground in Italy as well, in particular in areas such as class actions and enforcement of judgments. For the time being, there is no specific law regu- lating it.
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